Amy & the Sleepers
by RoadWarriorFWaNK
Summary: A story about family, love, insanity, and death in a post-cataclysmic world.


Prologue  
"....And that was Bill with the weather. Now for National News.  
Today, just outside of Abilene, Texas, the government project known as 'Project Winter' is ready to go after a year of setbacks and budget cuts. This project is going to take 1000 American volunteers and place them in cryogenic slumber, in a hidden government facility somewhere in the Southwest. These volunteers will be frozen for 2 weeks, then thawed out just in time for Christmas. The government hopes to use this technology for a variety of purposes, from interstellar travel, to preserving accident victims. If the project goes as planned, similar experiments will be conducted on Juicers and Crazies in two or three years."  
"Wow, that's exciting. Kind of makes you wonder what they'll be able to do next. Thank you Angela. Now for International News.  
Communist rebels in South America tried to break through the Brazil/Argentina border earlier this morning, but were pushed back by a squad of American 'Glitter Boy' powered armor soldiers. Chinese, Russian, and Middle Eastern leaders are outraged by the incident, which they proclaimed the US instigated. They are reportedly threatening to declare war if an agreement cannot be met. The U.N. is meeting with the leaders of all of its members tomorrow to discuss peace talks between the 15 nuclear superpowers involved with the incidents of the past few months.  
More on these and other stories tomorrow at 10:00. Now, stay tuned for Fox's presentation of 'When Cyborgs Attack! 3'. Good night, everyone......"  
  
Amy and the Sleepers  
  
March 15th, 103 P.A. I remember that day like it was yesterday. That was the date I was gonna be executed as a traitor to the Coalition States. I also remember it because it was snowing lightly. It's kinda strange; snow in March....in Lone Star. Usually hotter'n blood on a griddle out here, but there it was; snow. The snow kinda reminded me of the frost covering the inside of those "sleepers'" capsules we found a month earlier.  
Oh, wait, I haven't even introduced myself yet! My name is Melvin. Carter J. Melvin. Y'see, I'm a bounty hunter. Only thing I ever been good at was chasing folks down and blowin' their brains out. When I first started, I was cocky and swore I'd only go after the worst kinda criminal sort: bank robbers, claim jumpers, gunslingers, vampires, and all them other bastards out there. Only thing is, after a month of that shit, I realized there ain't no way I can live like that; I was narrowing my perspective too much. And so, I started doin' bounties fer anyone who could pay me. Some of them were worse than the fuckers they had me chase down.  
Anyway, lemme tell you 'bout what happened that would get the Coalition after an ornery little cus like me. It all started with my latest job, one month ago.......  
  
"Hell of a way to spend Valentine's Day, eh, Carter? Crawling around a fuckin' sewer looking for bandits; runnin' from vampires?"  
"Oh, yeah, Danny; I'm havin' a great time. Can't stop thinkin' about that girl Jamie, though. I'd much rather spend the day with her rather than doin' this shit."  
"We gotta eat, Carter-man. Food and ammo costs money. Anyway, that bargirl don't want nuthin' to do with you; she's paid to act like that."  
Carter thought about that for a second. "Nah.", he said, wiping the sweat from his forehead, "She wants me."  
Danny rolled his eyes. He was behind Carter, on their knees, crouching in a dusty old drainage pipe that was barely big enough for a normal-sized man to fit through, much less a huge Juicer like Danny. "Whatever, man.", he said, "You know, Carter, I...."  
Carter interrupted him. "Shhhhh, Danny; shut up!", he whispered loudly, "Get back on the clock."  
"How many?"  
"I don't know. They're all in a jumble. I can see their shadows on the wall over there. Vampires. I can smell the blood on the fuckers' breaths."  
"Aww, shit...", cursed Danny. He reached around his back and grabbed a small crossbow, loaded with little wooden arrows. It could project a flying wooden stake over 1000 yards and sink right into a vamp's heart.  
A couple of days ago, Carter Melvin and his team were hired by a wealthy aristocrat from Lone Star City, a man named "Desmond Bradford" to bring his daughter home, who had been kidnapped by Pecos Raiders. They found the bandits hiding out in the rocks and crags of The Bend, in western Texas, and chased them east, to a small town built on the Gulf Coast. The sewers underneath the town hadn't been touched since before the Great Cataclysm. Old, dark, and dry, the bandits thought it would be an ideal hiding place. Unfortunately, so did the undead monsters who now hunted both the bandits and our heroes.  
"Fuckin' vampires.", Carter swore under his breath. He was an average-looking fellow, with handsome features, and short, messily kept black hair. It was unbearably hot in the sewer, and sweat rolled off his body in huge droplets, soaking his undershirt and making his body armor extremely uncomfortable. His armor was old and had been built by a third-rate black market manufacturer, so it didn't have any environmental protection. It could stop a bullet or a bolt of plasma, though, and that's all that really mattered to Carter.  
"What was that?", his partner asked. His name was Danny Lee Kane. Danny was a Juicer. Before the Great Cataclysm, Juicers were far and few in-between; almost exclusivly used for military purposes. These days, however, they are far more common. Like many others looking for a quick way to survive in such a harsh world, Danny had subjected himself to chemical enhancements. Underneath his body armor, he wore a sophisticated system of hypodermic needles attached to a harness, which continually sent chemicals racing through his bloodstream. These chemicals made him stronger, tougher, and faster than any average man. Unfortunately, the Juicer program is not perfect, and the chemicals take their toll; killing the man within fifteen years of first becoming a Juicer. These men and women shave many years off of their lives in order to become supermen.  
"I said, 'Fucking vampires'.", Carter repeated himself, "Up ahead." He pointed to their silloehette on the far wall.  
"You sure?", asked Danny, nervously.  
"Of course; I'm sure. I've dealt with these fuckers all my life. I know how they move; how they think. You never forget something like vampires....."  
They sat in mutual silence for a minute. Carter sighed and wiped the sweat from his brow again. He watched ahead as the huge mob of vampires, their shadows fused together like some horrible mass of bodies, moved about. Carter knew what they were doing. They were feeding on someone. The very thought made Carter sick to his stomach.  
"So.......what do we do?", whispered Danny, impatiently, "Radio the others?"  
"Nope. I already tried that. There's some heavy interference from the sewers. We're too far underground."  
Carter and Danny crouched in silence as Carter stared at the dancing shadows. "Stay here.", he said.  
Carter crawled from the safety of his pipe and entered a small concrete room. The only light came from an electric lantern dropped on its side. He bolted over to another, smaller pipe sticking out of the floor. It was big enough for him to hide behind. With his back up against the pipe, he closed his eyes and drew a crucifix across his chest with his finger. He then peeked around his hiding place and saw three humanoid figures with their mouths fastened to the necks and wrists of the Pecos Raiders Carter was chasing. Small pools of crimson blood formed on the ground, leading from trickles from the corners of the vampires' lips.  
The vampires were typical wilderness stalkers. They were wearing little clothing, and their appearance was almost animalistic. In their eyes was a primitive intelligence; like that of an insane chimpanzee. They snarled and lapped up the blood in a red frenzy, seemingly unable to quench their collective unnatural thirst.  
"Goddamned vampires.", Carter said under his breath. He quietly moved back to the pipe where Danny was still hiding.  
"Danny!", Carter whispered loudly, "You still have those water balloons?"  
"Better, Carter-Man.", Danny said with a grin, "The other night I went and had 'em blessed by an honest-to-God priest!"  
Carter smiled.  
"Holy Water!", Carter exclaimed, "Way ta come through there, partner!"  
Danny nodded in agreement.  
Carter took the five balloons and said, "Alright, cowboy, here's the deal: There's only three bloodsuckers. They got what appears to be all but one of the Pecos boys. I didn't see the girl at all. I'm gonna lob these balloons at 'em. When they're rolling around screaming in pain, you jump out and plug the dirty fucks with yer crossbow; right in the heart. If the water don't kill 'em, you cover my back. Got that?"  
Danny eagerly clutched his crossbow and said, "Crystal clear, Carter! Oh, yeah; let's kill some shit!"  
"Now don't get antsy, buddy. I don't want to be at the business end of one of those stakes just because you jumped out too soon!", Carter said, "Don't do shit unless you hear 'em scream."  
Carter then slowly climbed from the pipe and stood in the center of the room, in plain sight of the vampires. He made no attempt to cover himself up.  
One by one, the three vampires noticed Carter. They dropped their meal, eager for more. The bandits were completely drained, and fell to the floor in a heap. The vampires reared over and bared their blood-caked fangs. One let out a guttural, inhuman hiss and smiled big. Another snapped his teeth at Carter, inching forward with his friends.  
Defiantly, Carter stood his ground. He tried to put on his "Poker face", which has won more than one game of cards, in an attempt to show no fear. But Carter really wasn't afraid. He had stared down undead bastards far more powerful than these wimps. Carter's hatred for vampires overrode any fear he might have had. Funny thing; hate.....really makes you focus. In spite of himself, Carter smiled.  
"Living in these sewers has made you cocksuckers filthy!!", he laughed, "Here; take a fuckin' bath!!" He reared back and tossed the holy balloons at the demonic fiends; one after another.  
The balloons smashed into the vampires, splashing Holy Water everywhere. The monsters screamed in horrible pain. Their dry, undead flesh smoked and burned away as if being eaten by acid. A disgusting sizzling sound emanated from the vampires, being partially covered up by their screams.  
One of the waterlogged monsters dropped to the ground. He had caught the brunt of the assault and doubled over in agony; the water burning away the last of his flesh. There was nothing left but a horrifying, melted skeleton.  
Carter watched the scene with the same sort of grim satisfaction that one might have after watching something so terrible dying, the kind of feeling no one wants to admit they get; the kind of feeling no one wants to admit they like. He didn't flinch, even as the "whoosh" sound of two wooden arrows flew past his head.  
The arrows hit their marks exactly, tearing through the soft chest of the vampires, puncturing their infernal hearts. Without time to scream, the vampires fell to the floor with a "thud". Their seared bodies had stopped smoking. They were covered with huge melted patches of skin. Blood oozed from the wounds the arrows left in their chests. They lay lifelessly on the floor in a crumpled heap.  
Danny kicked one of the corpses. "Just like clockwork.", he said, adjusting his night-vision goggles, "You and me make a great team, Melvin!"  
"Told you before, Danny, we ain't breaking away from the others."  
"Awww, come on, Carter-Man!! You and me was buddies before the war! We don't have any real obligation to these people. It could be like old times, right after you were kicked out of the CS; Carter Melvin and Danny Lee Kane: Bounty Hunters extraordinaire!! We'd be just like 'Starsky & Hutch'!!"  
"First of all, Danny, these people are our friends! And maybe they'd like you more if you were actually a bit nicer to 'em. That war was hell, and we all watched our buddies die right in front of us. We all need each other to watch our backs. Strength in numbers, Danny, remember that."  
Carter then gave Danny a confused look. Sort of a 'what the fuck are you talking about' type of look. "Second of all, what the fuck is 'Starsky & Hutch'?"  
"Oh, it was an old pre-rifts TV show. I think from about the.....1970's. Maybe the 60's. I dunno. Well, it was about these two cops who went around kicking peoples' asses. They show reruns all the time in El Paso, but they're all dubbed over in Spanish."  
Carter shook his head and lit a cigarette. "You're something else, ya know that, Danny?", he said, between clenched lips, "Stuck on all that pre-rifts bullshit. Waste a' time, buddy. Dead era. It's a dead era."  
Danny shrugged his shoulders and turned his attentions back toward the dead vampires. He unzipped his pants and began emptying his bladder on one of the corpses. He snickered happily. "Woo; how ya like that, ya dead fuck?!"  
After Danny was done, he zipped his pants back up and grabbed for the arrow plunged into the monster's heart. "Gimme back my arrow, ya filthy rotten bastard."  
"No, Danny!!", Carter yelled, snatching Danny's wrist and holding it firmly; keeping him from removing the arrow.  
"Jesus, Danny, what's the matter with you?!!!"  
"What, Carter, I'm just gonna get my arrow back!"  
"Jesus, Danny, Don't you know nuthin' about vampires? You never; NEVER take out a stake once you killed 'em. If you do, the fuckers come right back to life."  
"What, then, you can't kill 'em at all?"  
"Well, not exactly. That poor guy seems to be pretty dead." Carter pointed at the vamp who had been turned to so much pudding by the Holy Water. "Also, sunlight will turn 'em to dust in a matter of seconds. And once you stake 'em, you gotta cut off their heads and burn 'em."  
"Shit, we ain't got time for that.", said Danny, "Let's just drag the bastards outside. In an hour it'll be dawn, so we can give 'em a nice tan."  
Carter looked at Danny as if he had just asked him to shoot himself in the head. "Hell, no. I ain't doin' that! That's some fucked- up-repugnant-ass shit! Draggin' dead vamps around!!"  
"Well, we can't just leave 'em here. Somebody could find 'em."  
"Yeah, I know." Carter took a long drag on his cigarette. "We'll come back after we deliver Bradford's daughter and collect our money. I promise."  
Danny didn't like that idea, but he figured it would be okay. Carter was the vampire expert, so whatever he said must be for the best. Anyway, he didn't have much of a choice. Carter was their leader, and his word was as good as the law.  
  
Well, to make a long story short, we found the girl rather easily. The only remaining bandit made a hell of a lot of noise running through the sewer. When we found him, he gave up the girl pretty easily. Of course, it took a little persuasion from my new C-20 laser pistol. A little talk with him, and the poor bastard didn't have much to say anymore. Then again, maybe it was because I shot his fool head clean off.  
The girl was a strange one. She didn't ever talk or make any noise. She just looked around like a lost puppy and walked wherever anyone took her. She sure didn't seem too enthused that we rescued her from nasty Pecos Raiders who would have done god-knows-what to 'er. She was a pretty little black girl with pigtails and a pink dress; typical little schoolgirl. Oh, well, that's them rich folks for ya. Lotta money, but no personality. At least she was quiet. I didn't want to deal with no screaming brat all day.  
We headed out of town as soon as me and my team regrouped in the town square. The locals weren't too happy about us turning their underground into a warzone. The local sheriff and three of his deputies showed up to push us out of town. We left, but not on account of that good-fer-nuthin' lawman and his two-bit thugs. Our business was done, and it was time for us to go; regardless of him and his gun- toting lapdogs.  
And so, with the early morning desert sun beating down on us, we started the long drive back to Lone Star City. Let me take this moment to introduce you to my team. You already know me and Danny Lee, so I won't tell you any more about us. Well, there's also Miguel Diego; a greasy bounty hunter like me, from south of the border (I'm a much better gun, but don't tell 'im I said that), Carlos; this huge Mexican motherfucker who can dismantle and clean any gun in under 20 seconds (yeah, that's a real impressive trick) We don't know his last name cuz he never told us; Alice Miller, one of those witch-types with their bag of magic crap (she calls herself a 'ley line walker', whatever the hell that's supposed to mean), and Irwin Miller; Alice's little brother (like his sis, not much of a brawler. he likes computers and other Techno-Can crap. He couldn't use a gun to save 'is life). We were all hired separately to fight in this war a while back for some dirty little village. The village was fighting against some nomadic warrior-monster-things. I dunno; huge ape-looking motherfuckers. Anyway, the village was completely destroyed, and the army was slaughtered. We were the only ones to survive, and decided to band together. We travel around these parts looking for mercenary work. Not much work these days, though; most of our jobs is fightin' against Pecos Raiders and vampires and shit like that.  
Anyway, back to the story.......  
  
After a short sleep under a rocky crag just outside of town, Carter and his rugged team were well on their way to Lone Star City. Their dune buggies tore across the dry landscape, sending sand and dirt up into the air in huge clouds. The sounds of their modified gas engines, retro-fitted with new turbos, was deafening. Carter and Danny rode in the lead buggy. Danny was driving, listening to his new bootlegged copy of a "Guns 'n Roses" album. Danny was a big fan of pre- rifts life, especially the late 20th century, but as far as he was concerned, the 21st was boring as hell. "It was the Conservative Christian's faults! They outlawed everything fun! No wonder the world blew up; we needed a little excitement!", he would rant about. Danny had a substantial collection of artifacts from the time period. Most were copies of music from the time; like the tape he was blasting. He tapped on the wheel as he drove, swinging his head back and forth in time with the music.  
Carter sat beside him, reading a newspaper from El Paso and downing a bottle of Jack Daniel's. He wiped his chin as he went over the latest events. Nothing much. Gang violence was lessening, thanks to King Halloway's new "Zero Tolerance" program on firearms. More deaths, disappearances, and other lovely stuff. Still a crappy city. Carter avoided the place whenever possible.  
Behind Danny's buggy were two more, each holding a member of Carter's team and, of course, their prize. The girl sat in the middle buggy, as quiet and solemn as ever. If she knew what was going on, she didn't seem to care.  
Carter finished his paper as he licked the last drop of liquor from his bottle. He tucked them both away in the back of the buggy. He then listened for a minute to Danny's tape.  
"Hey, turn it down, Danny.....", Carter said, mildly disgusted by his friend's choice in music, "C'mon, it's bad enough we gotta listen to these damn souped-up dune buggies; I don't wanna have to put up with that shit either. Can't we try to enjoy the peacefulness of the desert?"  
When Danny adjusted the volume to a more reasonable level, his two-way radio crackled to life.  
"Carter!! Danny! Are you there? Over.", the voice said, sounding slightly nervous. It was Irwin, calling from the last buggy with his sister.  
Carter picked up the radio and put it to his head. "Yeah, we're here, Irwin. ", he responded, "What's up? Over."  
"I've got some blips flying low in on radar!", Irwin said back, his voice becoming increasingly distressed, "Fast ones, too!! They're uh.....they're headed right for us!! Uh....from the northwest..... about 30 degrees!!"  
Carter looked in that direction through a pair of binoculars. He could only see some black dots racing forward, a huge dust cloud in their wake.  
"I see them.", said Carter, "Don't nobody do shit 'less I do it first. Over and out."  
"Stop the buggy here, Danny.", said Carter, "We don't want them to think we're challenging them."  
Danny slowed the buggy down and pulled to a stop. The buggies following him did the same. Carter stood in his seat and looked back through his binoculars. He could now see the objects more clearly. "Shit...", he whispered to himself. He handed the binoculars to Danny. "Take a look.", he said.  
Danny peered into the binoculars. He swore silently to himself. He then dropped the binoculars and reached in the back for a large energy cannon. Carter simply stared ahead and lit a cigarette.  
"What's the plan, Carter?", Danny asked, popping an ammo clip in his huge gun and resting it on the dashboard, aiming it straight ahead.  
Irwin came back in over the radio. "Carter....those objects...I've identified them as Coalition SAMAS troops. Well....all of them but one. There appears to be a CS jeep leading them......Shouldn't we be leaving now?", he stumbled out. Irwin sounded more scared than before.  
"Goddamn Coalition......what the hell are they doing out here?", Carter swore to himself.  
He could see them completely now. Their black skull-shaped helmets made them indistinguishable from any other powered armor on the continent. Their ebony armor shone brightly in the noonday sun. They were flying in a standard V-shaped formation, with the jeep that Irwin mentioned driving at the tip. Their enormous rail guns were aimed forward in combat-ready positions. They were coming here to fight; Carter knew that from watching the troops being trained when he was in a CS boot camp.  
"Wait for my signal.", Carter ordered over the radio, "If they wanted us dead, they'd have done it by now." That statement was bullshit, and Carter knew it. But he also knew that there was a reason the jeep, with an officer riding in the passenger seat, was leading the SAMs. Carter doubted it was just to watch him die.  
The armored troops and their escort stopped about 30 feet from Carter. The SAMs fell into a line formation behind the jeep, their unseen eyes, as well as their huge machineguns, on the mercenaries. The soldier in the jeep's passenger seat, apparently an officer, got out and walked forward.  
She was not only an officer, a lieutenant by the mark on her shoulder, but a woman. Her full-environmental CS body armor was figured for a woman, and hugged every curve of her slender body. Her helmet, with its trademarked CS "Death's Head" black skull, had the sides and the top sliding back into several streaking protrusions, sticking out straight back from her head.  
Then, she spoke.  
"Carter Melvin! You are to surrender your captive to me! We have been sent to intercept you on your way to Lone Star City! Failure to comply will result in your immediate termination!"  
Carter stood for a moment, motionless. His cigarette hung from between his lips like a limb from a tree. He knew that voice!!! It was a voice from his past; but like a dream, it seemed different. Colder, wiser, angrier, older.....But mainly colder. Her voice was like ice.  
"Under whose orders?!", Danny yelled, waving his gun around, daring one of the SAMs to even flinch.  
"Dr. Desmond Bradford!!"  
"DOCTOR Bradford?!", Danny questioned in surprise. He looked up at Carter, who seemed to be lost in another world.  
"Hey, Carter, that's the guy who hired us! He didn't say anything about being a doctor!"  
"He's the head of Lone Star's genetics division.", called the Coalition officer, "That girl is one of his escaped experiments, and he desperately wants her back. Hand her over immediately."  
Miguel leaped out of his seat in the buggy behind Carter's and yelled to the CS troops in a thick Mexican accent, "Hey what about our money, eh?! We ain't doin' thees for nothing!!"  
"You're not getting any money. You're lucky I've decided to let you all live."  
"No money?! Then you gringos ain't getting the girl!!" Miguel reached into his seat and pulled out a high-powered Coalition energy rifle. He was just itching to pull the trigger and waved it about in a threatening manner.  
The SAMAS troops tightened their stances and aimed their guns. One took a step forward. A small poof of dust rose when his big black foot stomped into the dry earth. He shook his gun with anticipation.  
Then, as emotions were at a high point and the only thing keeping the two sides from tearing each other apart was to see who would fire the first shot, Carter shouted out a word that cut through the tension like a hot knife through butter.  
"Jackie!!"  
The Coalition officer removed her helmet. Underneath was the face of a very attractive young woman. Her ash blond hair was tied up into a makeshift bun. A smug little smile stretched across her face.  
"So, Carter dear, you haven't forgotten about me after all. Now, how long has it been?"  
"Almost ten years, Jackie."  
"You never called, you never wrote; one might think you didn't care about me anymore."  
Carter left his place in his dune buggy and rushed forward to greet his old friend. Everyone put their guns down for the moment to watch this strange turn of events.  
"I really missed you, Jackie; but we were just moving around so much...and sometimes letter carriers from the wastelands aren't allowed in CS cities."  
"Then you should have come back to the city. I heard about what you tried to do after you left. You went to go see Monica. I told you she didn't care about you. Not like I did. And now look at you; all lonely and unhappy."  
"Well...none of that don't matter no more. We're together now, and it can be just like old times.....just like before I was kicked out of basic training."  
"No, Carter, I'm afraid it can't be like it was before. You see, I'm a lieutenant now. After they booted you out, I graduated from the Officer's Academy with flying colors. I command a squadron of my own troops, just like I always wanted. The Coalition made my dreams come true."  
"So now.....you're just a puppet for the Emperor. Another tool for his campaign against non-humans..."  
Jackie was slightly insulted at Carter's comment. She was proud of her rank. She was glad she was an CS officer. She liked being part of the last hope for mankind.  
"And you, my love, are simply a filthy little mercenary clawing at the dirt for a bite to eat, consorting with criminals and demons. I'm ashamed of you, Carter." Jackie said that like Carter was the worst human being she had ever met. Each word dug into Carter's skin like a bullet. Carter is normally the kind of person who takes those kinds of words in stride, but it was different hearing them from someone he loved.  
Carter was amazed. Hurt, but amazed. He was surprised to see how much his friend had changed. When they first met in the recruiting station, they were just looking for a short-term service so they could become respected citizens of the state; but Jackie had succumbed to the propaganda against non-humans early on, and gave herself completely to the Coalition Army. This person that stood before Carter was not the girl he fell in love with years ago; this was someone new......someone Carter didn't like too much.  
Carter stared into Jackie's eyes, trying to find some sort of rationalization for how she was acting.....but there was nothing.....he saw nothing in her eyes....like staring at a tombstone.  
Jackie reached into the holster at her side and pulled out a C- 18 laser pistol. She pointed it at Carter's face.  
"But I'm not here to get reacquainted with you, Carter.", she said, "There is still the matter of the girl. She belongs to the State."  
Carter looked past the gun inches from his nose and into Jackie's icy glare. "Is that all you care about, Jackie?", he asked, "Doing your 'duty' to the Coalition?! C'mon...let this one go...for old times' sake..."  
Jackie just stared at him.  
"There was a time when you loved me, Jackie.....You remember that?........ Just let me go, and you'll never see me again."  
When Carter said that, something inside Jackie snapped. She suddenly broke off her gaze and turned away from Carter. Her gun fell to the ground, and she looked at her team, weakly.  
"Kill them all.", she said dryly.  
"B....but lieutenant......", one of the SAM soldiers stuttered, "What about our girl?"  
"Are you questioning my orders, soldier?"  
"N..no, ma'am!! I just thought..."  
"You aren't being paid to think!! You heard what I said and you know your orders, now DO IT!"  
The SAMAS soldiers did as they were told. They opened fire on Carter and his team, spraying the area down with a hail of machinegun fire. Carter's team was heavily outgunned, and fell back to behind some huge boulders. They reared around the rocks and tagged the huge robots with fire from their weapons. First one SAM dropped, then another...then two more, their suits shorting out from extensive damage. Carter's team had a significant advantage: Alice. She used her magical power to screw with the SAMs' computer systems. The pilots could not locate where Carter and his team were firing from, and flew about shooting wildly.  
Danny became overconfident at the sight of the bewildered SAMs and rushed out, shooting like a madman. He blew the thrust engines off of the back of one SAM, killing its ability to fly properly, and sending the poor pilot spiraling into the ground. The armor crashed violently, and became a huge fireball. You could almost hear the pilot inside, screaming as he was incinerated from the intense heat.  
One of the pilots fought against his suit's malfunctioning and fired a small rocket from his robotic forearm, straight at the foolish Juicer. Danny had barely enough time to jump away, but was caught at the edge of the blast. He flew off and tumbled in the dirt, unconscious and badly hurt.  
Carter, fearing the worst for his friend, returned fire a hundredfold back at the pilot who nearly killed Danny, with a large automatic laser rifle. The SAMAS was shaken, and had some trouble maneuvering around, but was still in the air. Smoke streamed from the charred metal where Carter shot it. Sacrificing the safety of his boulder, Carter rushed out and leapt behind one of the buggies, now stained with smoke and punctured by gunfire. He reached inside and grabbed a large rocket launcher. Then, he noticed something else in the buggy. The little girl was still sitting there!! She hadn't run when the battle began, and still sat, looking a bit worried and slightly scared, but otherwise normal.  
"What the fu.....", Carter said to himself out of surprise. His last word was cut off when a black steel fist swung out and clubbed him on the back of his head. Carter swung around, dazed, and fell on the ground. The world was spinning around him.  
The one who hit him was the pilot who drove the jeep. He laughed and kicked Carter in the ribs. Then, he did it again. The soldier had a small laser pistol in his hand and aimed in at the girl in the buggy's seat. He fired once. A red beam of coherent light, as hot as anything, cut deeply across the girl's forehead. She moved at the last second, with reflexes impossible for a human. Her movement prevented the shot from burning a hole clear through her head. She turned to face the soldier, who shrugged his shoulders and re-aimed his pistol.  
The girl was angry at this turn of events, and she showed it. Right before everyone's eyes, she started to change, radically. Her teeth glared, then grew into huge razor-sharp protrusions. Her jawline increased, and her entire body began to take on a demonic shape. Her muscle mass suddenly increased twenty times, her pretty pink dress tearing off of her enormous body. Her eyes sunk back into her head and glowed a bright red. Her tongue, now a large pink mass of muscle, stretched out across her face and left a slimy trail of spittle hanging off her chin. She then let out a roar, this deep, terrible noise like that of a lion; but definitely not the noise a small child would make. Jagged talons extended from her fingertips. She stretched her fingers and toes out, giving her enormous new claws some room to move. She turned to the CS soldier who tried to kill her and sneered.  
The soldier had no idea what to do. He was so terribly frightened and could do nothing but stand and stare at this horrible creature that was once a pretty little girl. Trembling, he turned his pistol upwards and pointed it threateningly at the monster. The gun felt like it weighed a ton in his hand.  
Before the man could even think about pulling the trigger, the monster grabbed his outstretched arm and gave it a fierce yank. The arm was promptly pulled from its socket, spilling the poor crippled soldier to the ground in pain. Blood gushed out of the hole in his armor where his arm once was in huge spurts. The girl-creature held the arm in her hand, not quite sure what to do with it now. She tossed it aside and surveyed the battle.  
Everyone stopped fighting and watched the grisly event. They were horrified at what the girl had become. Carter and his team had no idea what they were carrying. It was no wonder Bradford wanted this thing back. If it escaped into the wastelands, it could kill numerous people. The other remaining CS soldiers were not pleased with what the monster had done to their comrade. Especially Jackie. She took time to get to know each of her men personally, and watching one of them die is like watching a member of her family die. This is something she would not allow. Not by some inhuman monster.  
"Everyone redirect your fire to the girl!!", Jackie screamed to her soldiers, "Kill that demonic fucking thing!!!"  
The SAMs obeyed with pleasure. They ignored Carter's team and opened fire on the monster. Bullets and small missiles tore through the air and smacked into their despised target. The buggy she was propped up on was quickly destroyed and became little more than metal slag, but the onslaught was not enough to seriously damage the girl. The assault only made her more angry. She leapt from her seat in the burning wreckage of Carter's dune buggy and tackled one of the SAMs. The robot hit the ground hard, knocking his machinegun from his hand. The pilot screamed in terror and could do nothing but swat at the enormous hulk on top of him.  
The girl reared her malformed head back and thrust her huge teeth into the SAM's skull-shaped helmet. She began wildly tearing at the face of the robot, spewing little metal black chunks aside.  
Carter saw this as the perfect time to make his escape. The girl had inadvertadly saved his life, by dispatching the CS jeep driver and now by drawing the fire from the other troops. He shook the cobwebs from his mind and grabbed what he had run over here for; a large rocket launcher. He turned and mounted the launcher on his shoulder, pointing it at the girl-creature. He adjusted the eyepiece and peered through it.  
Carter watched the girl tear ferociously through one SAM, then another. The dying pilots lay in pools of their own blood. They were fighting back against the monster as hard as they possibly could, but with the damage Alice's magic did to their guiding instruments, they could not control their suits properly. They simply were not causing enough damage to the monster. She was slowing down under all the gunfire, but not enough. Jackie stood on the sidelines taking potshots at the beast with a laser rifle and shouting orders at her dying soldiers.  
Carter had to make a decision now. He could either fire a rocket and possibly kill the monster, or he could retreat back to his team and wait out the slaughter with the others. He looked at Jackie. The fight was futile, and she knew it. Carter could see what resembled fear in her eyes. Jackie was firing simply out of desperation; she had no other options. Carter did not want to leave her here to be torn apart by the girl, but he was not going to allow himself to be captured by Jackie. He heard what CS prisons were like; not fit for any living creature. Prisoners were frequently thrown in a cell and left there to rot, with only the corpses of your dead cellmates to keep you company until you died of starvation or disease.  
"Jackiiiiiiie!!!", Carter yelled. When she turned to look at him, he tossed the rocket launcher in her direction. It landed in the dirt next to her feet. Then, Carter gave her a smile and dashed back to his team's hiding place. On the way, he picked up Danny and carried him back. Danny was a big guy, and had a lot of weight; so it wasn't easy. Carter just hoped that by giving Jackie that advantage, she would let Carter and his team go. Or...at least she wouldn't use the launcher to blow him up.  
Jackie fully understood what Carter meant by tossing her the rocket launcher; he was giving her a weapon to blow the piss out of that monster killing her soldiers. She just couldn't understand why he did it. Didn't Carter know that she would just arrest him and his team when this fray was done with? 'No matter.', she thought to herself, picking up the rocket launcher, 'I'll deal with that upstart later.'  
"Hey boss, what the hell are you thinking?", Miguel asked Carter when he reappeared around the corner of the huge boulders they were hiding behind, "Handing a weapon like that over to those cabrons? They just gonna blow us up when they done with that monster!"  
"Because, Miguel, mi amigo, we are going to get the fuck out of here while they are dealing with that satanic cocksucker.", Carter said in a matter-of-fact tone.  
"Oh.....", said Miguel, thinking about that for a moment, "But....uh....where we gonna go, boss? Our buggies are out there!"  
Carter climbed up over the boulder and stuck his head out just enough to watch the battle. There were only two SAMs left. One was making flying passes at the girl-creature, trying to tackle her; and the other was trapped underneath her ponderous bulk, firing his rail gun up at the monster. Blood and chunks of black flesh splattered from the girl's shoulder, but she still showed little signs of weakening. Jackie was kneeling behind her black jeep, readying the launcher. She didn't want to fire at the beast with the SAM still lying underneath it. His suit was ripped open enough that the explosion would plaster him all over the landscape.  
"I.....don't know, Miguel......", said Carter quietly, "Any of you guys got any ideas, I'd love to hear 'em........How's Alice doing? Maybe she can conjure us up a limousine."  
"See for yourself, Carter.", said Miguel. He was kneeling over Alice's unconscious body, propping her up against him, with his hands under her arms. Her pretty blue robe was all dirty from when she collapsed in the sand.  
Carter came down from his perch. He took a good look at Alice and felt her forehead, wishing he knew what he was doing. "Jeez.....How'd this happen? What's the matter with her?"  
"I dunno, boss.", said Miguel, "She was just doing like normal, tossing blasts from her hands at the Dead Boys......then she got this really glazed look in her eye; like she was drunk. Said something 'bout her head hurting, then hit the dirt like a sack of potatoes. Carlos looked her over, said there was nothing wrong; like she wasn't shot or burnt or nuthin'. Carlos said her heart rate was a little high, but that's supposed to be normal for our situation."  
Carter bit his lip, devising a plan. He looked over at Irwin, who had done nothing but cower behind a boulder during the fight.  
"Irwin.", he said, waving at the aforementioned little man, "Come 'ere."  
Irwin did as he was told. Shaking with fear, he crawled his way over to where Carter was kneeling with Alice and Miguel.  
"Irwin, you keep your sister safe, alright?", Carter explained to Irwin slowly, "Make sure her feet are elevated, and keep her from choking on her tongue. She probably just passed out from the battle. People just do that sometimes. Carlos said that she's not injured, so she should be okay in just a little while."  
Irwin nodded in understanding. He held Alice close, and tucked a rock under her feet.  
Carter stood up and lit a cigarette. It took a couple of flicks to get his lighter going. It must be low on fuel. "As for the rest of us...."  
Carter was cut off by the sound of an explosion from over by the battle scene. Everyone hit the ground out of reflex.  
  
Miguel looked up from the dirt and coughed. He groaned and rubbed his chest. He had hit the ground hard, and landed squarely on something very solid; not dirt.....almost like metal. He looked down at what he landed on. It looked like a sturdy metal grate. Dirt and sand had covered up most of the air slits. The metal was very old and rusty. It had apparently been here for a very long time, and showed signs of weathering. Intrigued at what this could be, Miguel brushed off the dirt he could and he revealed that it was indeed some sort of large metal grate built into the ground. "What the fuck.....?", Miguel asked himself as he inspected this strange object, out here in the middle of nowhere. He took out a knife that he kept in his boot and began stabbing at the dirt in-between the grate's openings. It began to break loose and fall into blackness below.  
Carter grabbed his rifle and climbed up to the top of the boulder. He looked out at what happened. Apparently, Jackie had fired the rocket launcher at the girl-creature and had knocked it off of its feet. The monster lay in a small crater of charred earth. She was not moving and barely even breathing. The creature's arm had been blown off, and the right side of her body was horribly disfigured. Parts of her flesh were gone, and the bone and muscle underneath was burnt up. Jackie stood holding the launcher, smoke emanating from its barrel, a grim look on her face. The only remaining SAM stood next to her. A huge chunk of his robotic armor had been ripped out, and his face was covered in his own blood. A set of deep scratches lined his face. If not for the crumpled piece of metal that used to be his helmet, the pilot's head would have been shredded.  
Carter kneeled and watched. He lay very low, so as not to catch Jackie's attention. Maybe she would figure that he ran off if she didn't see Carter or his team anywhere. Behind him, he heard Miguel talking to Carlos in Spanish. Carter knew some Spanish, and was able to pick apart the conversation. Miguel was talking about some metal thing he found. They were wondering what it could be, and if they should let Carter know.  
Whatever Miguel and Carlos found was not important to Carter right now. He was watching Jackie to see what she would do next. Jackie threw down the launcher and walked over to the back of her jeep, accompanied by the SAM. She said a few words to him, then began rummaging through the jeep. Carter couldn't hear what they were saying, but it appeared she was telling him to leave.  
The pilot, ignoring his own pain and possible life-threatening wound, saluted Jackie. He switched his suit's jet thrusters on. They sputtered at first, then ignited with a rush of air. The pilot rocketed off north; back in the direction he and the others had originated. Carter assumed he was flying back to Lone Star City to relay what had happened; possibly to get an escort for the girl they were going to bring back.  
Jackie found what she was going through the jeep for. She brought out a large plasma cannon. Carter had read about this gun in a newspaper once, but he had never seen one in real life. It was a C-29 "Hellfire" Heavy Plasma Cannon, hot off the presses. This baby was the Coalition's top-of-the-line in heavy infantry support. It had just been released for final field tests last month before it was mass- produced for Emperor Prosek's new War Campaign. Jackie must have been one of the lucky soldiers to get to try it out. Damn, would Carter ever like to get his grubby mits on that puppy. But what was Jackie planning on doing with it?  
Jackie popped in an energy clip for the gun, then grabbed another from the jeep and held it in her teeth. She turned back to the girl, who was healing up the extensive damage done to her body rather quickly. In a matter of minutes, she would be at full strength again, and eager to shed some pain. She writhed about on the ground in agony, weakened from losing so much blood. Jackie looked at the monster with a menacing glare. She removed the clip from between her lips and tucked it into her belt. Then, she began walking slowly to the creature, the huge gun propped up nonchalantly on her shoulder.  
"Hey, Carter!", Miguel said, tugging on Carter's pant leg, "Come 'ere, amigo, we gots something to show you!"  
"Not now, Miguel.....", said Carter, without even looking at his Mexican friend. He was watching Jackie.......and wondering what she was planning to do with that goddamned cannon. She couldn't be planning to use it on the girl, could she? Weren't her orders to go and bring back the girl alive?  
"Boss....It's kind of important.....", said Miguel, "I think I've found us a way out of here!"  
Carter looked away from Jackie for the moment to see what Miguel was talking about. "What?", he asked, "Where? Show me."  
Miguel pointed to the large grate in the ground. Carlos had pried it open and lifted the heavy metal grate. It swung outward on a set of hinges. There was a ladder inside, leading down into a dark metal tunnel.  
Carter walked around the hole, looking it over.  
"So.... what is it?", Carter asked, looking at Miguel, "Some kinda mine shaft? Or an air vent?"  
Miguel shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "Your guess is as good as mine, boss..." Carter got on his knees and peered into the darkness. He couldn't see a damn thing. Carter took a rock lying beside him and dropped it down the hole. Miguel, Carter, and Carlos all leaned way over and listened for the sound of the rock hitting the bottom of the hole. They didn't hear one.  
"So.....what do we do?", asked Miguel.  
Carter looked around and scratched his head. He remembered Danny, who had been knocked out by a missile blast. "Carlos, check him out, will ya?", he said, pointing to Danny, "Make sure he ain't dyin' on us."  
Without saying a word, Carlos knelt down beside Danny and looked him over to make sure he wasn't dead. Danny wasn't dead, but he was messed up pretty bad.  
"Carter.", said Carlos, in a deep, scratchy Mexican voice, "He's not going to die, but he needs to be immobilized, and he might have a concussion."  
"He's okay?", Carter asked, climbing back up on the boulder.  
"Si.", Carlos answered, "He's gonna feel like shit when he wakes up, but he'll live. He's a tough little pendejo..."  
"Hey, boss...", Miguel persisted, "What are we going to do about that hole?"  
Carter was beginning to get annoyed at Miguel. Carter didn't give a damn about the hole; it could shoot up a fountain of shit for all Carter cared. The only thing Carter cared about was making its way over to a hideous creature that used to be a pretty little girl.  
"Who says we should do anything about it, Miguel?", Carter said, watching Jackie put her foot squarely on the monster's throat. The monster gasped and struggled to bite her, but it was too weak and could barely even move.  
"Why, Miguel, you got a suggestion?"  
"Si, I got a suggestion...Why not we bust our asses down that ladder and take our chances down there before that Coalition senorita calls for more of her amigos?"  
Jackie cocked her gun and aimed it at the monster's face. Somehow, the monster understood, and tried to squirm out of the way, but Jackie just pressed harder with her boot , cutting off the monster's windpipe.  
"Jesus.....Jackie, what the fuck are you doing?", Carter said to himself; ignoring Miguel.  
"Best goddamned soldiers I've ever seen.........", Jackie said under her breath, "Killed by this fucking monster made by the fucking government....."  
Jackie pulled the trigger. White-hot streams of energy ejected from the barrel of the weapon and tore through the girl-creature's head. Jackie did not ease up on the trigger until there was not a bit of power left in her ammo magazine. "And that motherfucker Bradford doesn't even fucking care......", Jackie kept muttering to herself over and over again as she watched the malformed skull of her hated enemy be shattered into melted and burning fleshy slag, and scattered across the desert.  
Killing the monster gave Jackie no pleasure at all. The damage had been done; her soldiers were dead, and there was nothing she could do about it. The worst part was, she knew very well that this could, and was probably going to, happen again. Nobody had enough evidence that Bradford was conducting illegal and extremely dangerous experiments. Those who tried to uncover the truth mysteriously disappeared, had an unfortunate "accident", or went suddenly and inecsplicably insane.  
Everyone but Carter ducked when they heard the deafening fire from the other side of the rocks. Carter watched in total confusion as Jackie destroyed the target of her excursion into the desert. Wasn't Jackie completely subservient to the State? What would make her directly disobey her orders? Carter pondered this while Miguel crawled up the rock Carter was perched on.  
"And I think we'd better do it fast, cabron.", Miguel said, finishing his earlier statement.  
"Naw, wait, Miguel.", said Carter, not taking his eyes away from Jackie, "I think we're safe. She's completely outnumbered. Let's just wait till she leaves."  
"Sure thing, boss.", said Miguel as he and Carter slid down the side of the boulder and waited with their team, "But don' you wanna go say 'hi' to her? I saw the way you looked at that little chiquita. You still got a little something for her, eh?"  
Carter smiled and shook his head. "Ancient history, mi amigo.", he said, lighting himself up a cigarette, "Ancient history."  
Carlos sat by the hole, slugging back on a bottle of really cheap Juarez tequila. He had Danny's feet propped up on a rock, and his head wrapped up in cloth. Carter waved to Carlos to share the whiskey. Carlos tossed him the bottle and wiped his mouth.  
"Between you an' me, cabron,......that's bullshit.", said Miguel, with a big greasy grin stretching across his face, "Eh, believe me, if there's something I know, it's what an hombre acts like when he's in love."  
Catching the bottle of tequila, Carter laughed at Miguel's comment. "Be that as it may, Miguel.", he responded, "She IS trying to kill us, unless you forgot, and I have better things to worry about now."  
"Eh, Whatever, amigo.", said Miguel dryly, "It's your business, not mine."  
With a lit cigarette poking out from between his dry lips, Carter took a huge swig of the tequila. Little puffs of smoke belched from the burning embers of his cigarette as Carter drew the bottle back. He was the only man any of them knew who was such a hard drinker that he could down half a bottle of Mexican rotgut and still puff away on a cigarette.  
"Hey, C'mon, Carter, that's my last bottle.", Carlos said, "That shit's got to last me till we get into town."  
Suddenly, they were all startled back on the clock by the sound of an engine revving up. Carter tossed the bottle back to Carlos and scrambled to his place on the boulders. Jackie had climbed back into her black jeep and was driving in their direction. She had what looked like a miniature computer in her hand. Carter watched as she drove right past the rocks and continued on, gaining ever more speed.  
When Jackie passed the rocks, she had dropped the computer out of her jeep onto the dirt. Actually, it looked more as if she threw it from her speeding vehicle onto the rocks. The small black rectangular block hit the boulders and bounced down to the sand, right beside where Irwin sat, clutching his sister. They all gathered around to look at the object.  
"What the fuck is that?", Carter thought out loud.  
Irwin picked it up, fascinated by the device. "Hmmm..", he said to himself, "Funny...You know what this kinda looks like?"  
Carter was almost afraid to ask. "What?", he asked anyway.  
"A CS Fusion Block.", Irwin said calmly, "But I've never seen one like this before."  
"A WHAT?!" Carter yelled, "A Fusion Block?!! That bitch tossed a fucking bomb at me?!!"  
"Essentially......yes. And it's only got about thirty seconds left before it detonates."  
Carter looked around wildly. He knew there was no way they could outrun that thing. Fusion Blocks had an enormous blast radius for such a small metal box. Then....he saw it. Their only chance to live through this: that old grate. They were going to have to take their chances down there whether they liked it or not.  
"EVERYBODY DOWN THE FUCKING HOLE RIGHT NOW!!!", Carter screamed. Everyone scrambled towards the hole; Carlos slinging Danny over his shoulder, and Carter and Irwin dragging Alice. They wormed their way onto the ladder, one at a time, and barely had enough time to close the heavy steel grate before the Fusion Block exploded.  
Fusion Blocks have incredible destructive potential for such miniscule devices. One, tossed into the basement of your average five- story building, would result in the entire collapse of the complex from the inside out. Before the Great Cataclysm, they have been known to bust a tank or suit of powered armor completely open when dropped inside a hatch. And if you were sitting in that tank, drinking cocktails in that building, or holding one in your hands when that little green LCD timer went zero....well, you're liable to have a bad day. The Block Jackie tossed at Carter was no exception. It was a newer model just released by the CS, and this bad boy packed a hell of a punch. The entire shaft they were hiding in shook and rumbled as if it were going to come apart. They could all hear the sound of rocks being blown to pieces, and the light peering out from between the bars on the grate were soon covered up by tons of debris.  
After the dust had settled and everyone got their senses back, Carter flicked his lighter on. He was at the top of the ladder, looking down. He had Alice over his shoulder.  
"Everybody still alive?!", he called down the shaft, "I got Alice up here with me."  
"Si.", said Miguel. He was right below Carter. "Y......yeah,.........I'm he...here.", said Irwin. He was underneath Miguel, and so scared that he was barely able to talk.  
"Still alive.", said Carlos, "And I've got Danny."  
"G....g...great.", said Irwin, still scared shitless, "N...now can we get.....get out of h...here?!"  
"Hold on...I think some rocks piled up on the grate.", Carter responded. He tucked his lighter away and pressed up on the grate with all of his strength. Once, twice, three times he tried it, but the grate would not move an inch. The rocks on the grate were too heavy, and Carter couldn't get the proper leverage. Carter silently swore to himself. He was sweating bullets from the heat, and wanted so badly to wipe it from his forehead. If there was one thing Carter couldn't stand, it was sweat all over his face.  
"Aw, Jesus....", Carter whined, "Guys, we can't get fuckin' out of heeeere."  
"What do you fucking mean we can't fucking get out of here?!", Miguel yelled up the ladder, more than agitated.  
"I mean we can't get out of here.", Carter responded, "The Fusion Block toppled the rocks on us. It'd take a fuckin' Borg to break through this shit."  
"Could we shoot through?"  
"Yeah, if you got a grenade launcher.", Carter said sarcastically.  
"Shit!", Miguel swore and slugged the side of the shaft they were in. He rambled on in Spanish, not being stingy with the expletives.  
"Alright....we're gonna have to climb down!", Carter called, "Carlos! Go ahead and start down the ladder. We'll follow. Don't nobody step on anyone's hands, okay?!"  
They all started down the long, dark shaft, climbing for a very long time. The farther down they went, the stronger and more prevalent was the odor of musk. And it was getting colder, too. It was like they were crawling down into a cavern. A cavern made, apparently, of metal. The sides of the shaft were made of metal. Reinforced titanium, most likely. Every couple of minutes, they would see a large electric fan built into an adjoining pipe. Perhaps this tunnel was used for ventilation? The question was: ventilation for what?  
Soon enough, they reached the bottom of the shaft. It was a small area with a large drain on the floor, and a doorway with a pneumatic door, closed halfway. They had seen these types of doors in the higher-tech cities like Lone Star City ; and Irwin and Alice had been to Chi-Town, the CS capitol. Technology like pneumatic doors were commonplace in CS cities; not out here in the middle of nowhere.  
Carlos sat Danny on the ground, leaning his back up against the wall. Then, Carlos proceeded to grip the door at its base and lift it upwards, through the slit it was already halfway up in. Carlos was incredibly strong, and the door began to break from its bearings and slide freely into the ceiling, where it disappeared, opening up the doorway.  
Carter peered past the doorway. The light was now completely gone, his lighter using up the last of its fuel. With no source of illumination, the team just stood in the darkness.  
"Okay....does anyone have a flashlight?", asked Carter impatiently, "Or did we leave them in the buggies?"  
"Sorry, Carter, we don't have anything.", said Miguel.  
"Shit.", Carter swore to himself. Then, he remembered the night- vision goggles that Danny always wore on his forehead. Carter removed the goggles from the sleeping Juicer and, adjusting the size accordingly, fitted them around his own head.  
Carter switched the goggles on. A light, high-pitched drone came out of them, as Carter's vision suddenly turned a dull green color. He could see, though, at least.  
"Alright, amigos, this is how it's gonna be.", said Carter, "Since I'm the only one who can see where he's going, I'll wander around this place and try to find some light source. Best I can tell, this place was built by something intelligent, so there should be someone here running the farm. I'm gonna try to find them so they can help us get the hell out of this dungeon. You guys wait here. If I ain't back in an hour, that means I'm dead and you guys are on your own."  
"Si.", said Miguel, "We'll wait right here."  
Carlos had a laser rifle slung over his shoulder. He took it off and handed it to Carter. "Here, Carter. Take this.", he said, "Maybe this will keep you from being dead, eh?"  
Smiling, Carter took the rifle and thanked Carlos. He then turned and walked on down the hall, the rifle pointed lazily in front of him. It was thankfully cool in the dark halls, but Carter was still sweating. He was in a dangerous situation, and had no idea what he could find down here.  
Carter turned down the corner and moved through the corridor. It was just more of the same flat metal walls and track lighting that didn't work. Hallway after hallway of the same textureless walls. Sometimes the path would branch off into two corridors, and Carter would have to choose one. Carter was beginning to think it didn't matter which one of these damn metal hallways he went down, because they all looked the exact same, and didn't bring him any closer to finding a way out of there.  
After quite a while, and just when Carter was about to turn back, he happened upon a hallway with a row of sliding pneumatic doors like he had seen at the entrance.  
Carter peered through the small window on one of the doors. Inside he saw a couple of desks with papers and large blueprints scattered about the room. Chairs were turned over and lights were shattered, with pieces lying all over the floor. Carter couldn't read what was on any of the documents from the distance he was standing from, and the door wouldn't budge. Carter pushed on the door with all his might, but it was no good. Without power, the door would have to be broken to open it.  
Carter instead checked the other doors. They were all stuck as well. Inside, Carter just saw more desks and papers and computers. Inside one room, there was a skeleton sitting on the floor; his back to an overturned table. He was wearing tattered slacks and a labcoat, white, save for the dark dingy bloodstains. In his hands he clutched a revolver. The way he sat, opened legged, facing the door, the revolver in his hands fallen to his lap.....he almost seemed to be waiting for someone to poke their head inside the room.  
What a horrible thought....that this man died, waiting for something he thought would come to kill him. In the end, it was probably his own fear that prevented him from escaping, and so he died here in this dark room. Carter, not being one to dwell on such things, moved on to the other doors.  
The last door Carter found was a welcome change from the insane monotony of this place. It had a red cross painted on it, and was only partially closed. Ducking underneath the hanging door, Carter crawled into what appeared to be a medical lab. It was an enormous room, with many examination tables and other equipment, some so high-tech Carter didn't even recognize them, all stretching off into the darkness. Against the wall, Carter saw a fuse box. It had been torn open, and all the switches had been flipped off.  
Carter, humoring himself, went over to the switched and flipped them all to the "on" position. He knew nothing would happen, but still wanted to do it anyway. After a second, when nothing happened, he shook his head and chuckled to himself. "We ain't never going to get out of here....", he whispered desperately.  
Then, Carter heard a noise.  
A sudden clang of metal, it was; almost like a motor starting up, somewhere in the distance. It made Carter jump and swing his rifle around, surprised. The clang gave way to a screeching sound that echoed throughout the halls. Soon, the screech gave way to a quiet hum of machinery. Lights all over the room, and out it the hall, flickered on. Some burst when they activated, raining broken glass and neon dust on the floor. Computer terminals came to life everywhere. Some were working better than others. Most had faded monitors or images burned into them.  
Carter was surprised and shocked to see all this happen. He stood back in awe as the entire facility came to life before him. Carter removed the nightvision goggles from his sweaty face and dropped them to the floor. He wiped his forehead clean with his sleeve and looked around the room. 'Now we're making some fucking progress.', he thought to himself.  
Then, by chance, Carter happened to notice the startup program one of the small computers was running. He didn't recognize the program at all, but that was no surprise (Carter may have been able to read and write, but he couldn't use a computer to save his life), the thing that really caught Carter's eye was the date on the computer screen.  
"This can't be right....", Carter said out loud, "Where the fuck are we? What is this place?"  
The date on the screen said, "June 23, 2098". To Carter, this made no sense. He was accustomed to the post-apocalyptic calendar that was adopted after the New Dark Ages, just like the rest of the known world. To Carter, it was the year 103 P.A. The actual year according to the pre-rifts calendar (although speculated upon by every scholar from here to Quebec) was at least 2300, so the year stated by these obviously failing machines was completely unreliable. Attributing the miscalculation to a computer error, Carter ignored the terminals and crawling once again under the malfunctioned entrance door, and ran down the halls back to where his teammates waited.  
"Lay Danny and Alice on one of those tables.", Carter ordered to Carlos and Miguel when they and Irwin returned to the medical lab. "Carlos, you know a thing or two about medicine, don't you? Check them both out; make sure they ain't dyin on us."  
"Sure thing, Carter.", Carlos responded. He donned a labcoat and grabbed a stethoscope off of a table.  
"So what happens now, Carter?", Irwin asked, "Did you find out where we are?"  
"Naw...I found this place here...this little hospital place or whatever the hell it is, and figured I should get Danny and Alice in here."  
"So...what, then boss? You didn't find out where we are?!", Miguel said, visibly upset.  
"Hey! I got the fucking power turned on, didn't I? I got us light and I possibly saved the lives of our friends, eh?! So stop fucking complaining!", Carter snapped at Miguel.  
Miguel walked away from Carter, swatting at the air behind him and swearing quietly in Spanish. He sat down in the corner and closed his eyes, trying to relax.  
"Listen up everybody, here's the plan.", said Carter, scolding Miguel with his eyes, "No, I did not find out where we are, okay? However, now that all of us can see in this place, me, Miguel, and Irwin will continue the search for an exit. Carlos, you are going to stay here in the meantime. We'll be back in an hour with whatever we find. Right now, we've gotta do a weapons check while we've got a minute to rest. So everyone ante up."  
Everyone completely unarmed themselves and laid their weapons on a table. Danny and Alice, although unconscious, were able to contribute to the pool.  
"Quite a sorry pile of weapons, Carter.", Irwin sighed, checking out their armaments at first glance.  
"We've got more shit than this, I know we do!", said Carter.  
"We probably left the rest in the buggies. Didn't exactly have the time to grab all of our equipment."  
Carter grumbled. "Damn........Okay, well...what have we got here?"  
Irwin raised a weapon out of the pile and named it as if he was reading off some sort of checklist.  
"Okay, we've got a .44 magnum six-shot revolver....fully loaded....and uh....12 more slugs."  
"That's mine.", said Carter. He took the pistol and put into the holster wrapped around his shoulder. The bullets he dropped into a pocket in his dark brown pants.  
Irwin continued. "Okay, we've also got two C-18 energy pistols. Both only half-full. We've also got a C-14 laser rifle....Not much ammo left in this one...I dunno about it. Here's a....uh, I don't know about the model, it's that plasma gun you had earlier, Miguel. And we got a 9-mm semi-automatic pistol...15 rounds in the clip. We got three fragmentary grenades...eight spare e-clips and a couple of knives. That's it. Everything else we left topside."  
"Shit. Most of our best weapons are aboveground....Jackie probably seized it all for the damn State. Either that or blew it all up and told everyone we were dead."  
"Hey, Carter, what's the deal with that Coalition girl?", Irwin asked, "Did you know her?"  
"Yeah, I knew her.....well, I thought I did......let's just leave it at that. Now, everybody grab a gun, but leave the grenades here. We won't need them. We just want to protect ourselves, not trash the place."  
Irwin, Miguel, and Carter sorted out the weapons among themselves. Carter tossed Carlos the 9-millimeter. Carlos caught it and tucked into his belt. He continued his examination uninterrupted.  
"Okay, Irwin, Miguel...let's go.", ordered Carter.  
The three haggard mercenaries crawled underneath the partially opened door and continued the exploratory expedition Carter had started earlier. Staying together, even though Irwin and Miguel both proposed the idea of splitting up to cover more ground, they strolled through the endless metal corridors. In their collective heads, they attempted to map out the area they found, but it was no good. With very little distinguishing features to break up the repetitiveness of the facility, they were surely lost.  
Tired of walking, they sat down on the cold metal floor. Above their heads, the fluorescent lights hummed soothingly.  
"I don't get this place.", Irwin whined, "I mean....it's obvious that it was built by humans...extremely intelligent humans as well. Some of the machines in that medical room were way more advanced than anything I've seen. And I've been to Chi-Town."  
"Really?", asked Miguel, "What's it like in there? I've never even been out of the West, myself."  
"Oh, it's not bad. ", Irwin said lightly, "I have to admit, though, there's something wrong with a society that punishes murderers and rapists the same as it does to people who can read and people born on other worlds."  
Miguel nodded in agreement, digesting that thought in his head.  
"Anyway, as I was saying, just look at this place. There are no signs or words or symbols of any kind! Nothing at all to differentiate one area of the complex from the other! It's like a giant metal.....ant farm. I mean....how can the people who operate this place always know where they're going or where they are?"  
"Could be a CS joint.", Carter spoke up.  
"I don't think so. Even though the Coalition won't allow even their military to read and write, they still have to have a system of military-oriented symbols to operate correctly. I mean...how can they build weapons and robots and such if they can't make blueprints? But this place....this place has nothing at all."  
"Yeah, and if this was a Dead-Boy nest, how come we ain't been snagged yet?", Miguel asked, "That team from before..they dinna seem to know this place was even here."  
Carter sighed and stood up. He took in a long, deep breath, then slowly let it back out.  
"One thing's for sure....this place belongs to somebody. And we're gonna find them and get them to let us the hell out of this deathtrap. Let's keep moving."  
The trio continued the search. They walked on for what seemed like hours. Miguel and Irwin, obviously ignoring the direness of the situation, conversed between themselves, offering up ideas of who could have possibly built this place. Without warning, Carter, who was leading the way, stopped in his tracks and put a finger on his lip.  
"Quiet, guys.", he whispered. After a short pause, as though he was searching for something with his ears, he said "You hear that?"  
"Hear what?", Irwin asked.  
Miguel's eyes lit up. "What the hell is that noise?", he asked.  
"What noise?"  
"It's like....like a...I dunno how to describe it. Like a hum."  
"Yeah, yeah. ", Carter chimed in, "Like a drone....but it don't sound natural...sounds like..."  
"A rail gun!", said Irwin.  
"Yeah.....but much more..much stronger..."  
"A really big rail gun?"  
"Shit, I hope not.", Miguel said.  
Carter got this look on his face like he was contemplating something very hard.  
"Let's follow it.", said Carter, "I got a hunch it's our ticket outta here."  
"Yeah, and straight to Hell.", said Miguel.  
"Anywhere's better than this place, amigo!", Carter said as they started off down the hall. Their pace quickened as they went on. The closer they got to whatever was making that noise, the faster they went.  
In less time than it takes to tell. Carter, Irwin, and Miguel got as close as they could to the noise. In front of them stood an enormous metal door. On the door were painted the words "U.S. Department of Science and Technology- PROJECT: WINTER". All three men stood there, puzzling at the door's inscription.  
"Us?", said Miguel, "Who's 'Us'?"  
"No, it's not 'us', it's pronounced 'yoo-ess'.", Irwin replied, although just as confused as Miguel, "But....for the life of me, I don't know what that stands for."  
"I do.", Carter said flatly, "It's all starting to come together now.....It stands for United States."  
Irwin's eyes lit up and his jaw dropped when he heard those words. He suddenly realized what Carter knew. Miguel, however, was still lost.  
"So?.....who's 'United States'? Izzat a Coalition thing?"  
"Not even close, muchacho.", said Carter, shaking his head. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Carter then turned to Miguel. "Lemme try to explain this to you, Miguel. This is entire complex that we've stumbled on was built before the rifts came. This place...and everything in it, is at least three hundred years old! It's survived through everything; it survived the Great Cataclysm, it's survived the New Dark Ages, the Coalition, ...everything! And here it's been sitting, as clean and tidy as the day it was built."  
"It was built by scientists from the old American Empire...obviously for the express purpose of this 'Project Winter' thing.", Irwin added, "This....is incredible, my friends. This is possibly the greatest archaeological find of the modern era. Everything is in such perfect condition!! They even have power! How do they have power?!"  
Carter laughed at Irwin's enthusiasm. "Calm, down, Irwin!", he said, with an uncharacteristic smile on his face, "They probably have a nuclear reactor or something."  
"Nuclear reactor? I don't know about you, but I've never seen a nuclear reactor work after three hundred years. Hell, you're lucky if the ones the Coalition makes don't konk out after twenty." "Well, shit, man, I don't know. You're the damn scientist."  
"Hey, you guys think we could sell some of this shit?", Miguel said, bringing the conversation back to reality, "I hear old stuff like this goes for big bucks."  
"Could be, Miguel....could be!", Carter responded happily. Miguel nodded in agreement. The thought of money was what motivated Miguel, not ancient artifacts left behind by a bunch of dead guys. Carter and Irwin, however, turned their attentions to something far more interesting.  
"Say......Carter, what do you suppose is behind that door?", Irwin asked, practically drooling on himself at the thought of what treasures could be inside.  
"Well, we're about to find out, Irwin, my boy.", Carter replied.  
"Only thing is....how do we get in?"  
"Good question.....any ideas, Miguel?"  
"How 'bout we blow it the fuck off its hinges?", Miguel suggested, pointing his plasma rifle at the door.  
"I have a better idea.", said Irwin. He pointed to a small computer terminal placed into a niche in the wall, like an automatic teller machine would be. "I'd bet anything from a diddle-eye-joe to a damned-if-I-know that I can open that door from this computer."  
"Then go to it; you're the computer genius 'round here.", said Carter.  
The security program that the entire complex was running off of was extremely high-tech. Irwin hadn't seen anything this tough in his entire life. 'Those pre-rifts scientists must have been marvels at this sort of thing', he though to himself. It was even harder to work without any proper electrical tools to bypass and reroute the wires tucked away behind the monitor panel. Irwin had to use Miguel's large bowie knife, so it wasn't easy to move around in the cramped little area. Eventually, though, It happened.  
Sparks shot out of the niche, making Irwin jump back. More sparks shot out, and the lights began to falter. Everything blacked out for a second, then came back on. Old, unused machinery creaked loudly inside the walls. Carter and the others winced and covered their ears from the noise. There was a rumble as the two halves of the door slid apart and disappeared into the metal frame on the wall. Light from the hallway poured into the enormous dark room that was spread out before the stunned trio. They stepped inside and a sense of wonderment consumed them all. They stood in awe of what they saw.  
Past the doorway stretched out an enormous room. Machinery came out of the walls, was underneath the floor, and wrapped around the ceiling. Everywhere, thousands of blinking lights produced and orchestra of color. To their right was a table with a computer, twice as big as any other they had seen. Directly in front of where they stood were rows and rows of large glass capsules fitted into mechanical stands. Pumps and hoses moved about constantly on the machines, sending jets of steam through outtake vents. The inside of the capsules, each about the size of a man, was covered in a light blue frost. On some of the capsules, the frost did not cover the entire inside of the glass. Underneath the frost, inside the capsules, they saw people!! There was a person inside each of the capsules, which seemed to go on forever in the cavernous room.  
"Holy shit....", Carter droned out.  
"Madre de dios...", Miguel whispered to himself. He took the cross around his neck and kissed it fiercely.  
"So this is 'Project Winter'.", said Carter, "What the hell is this place? Who are these people?"  
Carter moved forward to one of the capsules and peered inside. He saw a young man, possibly eighteen or nineteen years old. Frost covered the young man's body. Carter noticed that he was breathing. The guy inside was alive!  
"Fuck me; these people are alive!", he said, shocked. Carter reached outward and touched the capsule. It was cold to the touch, so cold that it hurt Carter's hand. He quickly took it away. Carter then noticed that there was a number on the capsule; '005'. Looking at the other capsules, Carter saw that they were all numbered each with three digits.  
  
"Alive?", Miguel said, joining Carter by capsule number 005, "You're seeing things, boss. These people are older than shit."  
"Fuckin' look for yourself, Miguel.", said Carter, "You can see this guy breathing. He's fucking breathing, man!"  
Miguel looked into the capsule and indeed saw the young man's chest rise and fall as his lungs took in the cold air circulating through his machine. Miguel's eyes grew wider. He looked at Carter in disbelief.  
"Carter....this is just getting too weird. What's next, eh? Some of these people gonna turn into monsters too? I mean, what the fuck kinda day have we been having?" Miguel slumped down on the cold metal floor, resting his back up against the capsule behind him. With his thumb and forefinger, he rubbed his eyes and forehead. He let out a long exhausted sigh. "Christ....I gotta get some sleep. I feel like shit."  
"You don't look so good.", said Carter.  
"I don't?"  
"No....well, you've looked better."  
Irwin called to the two men from across the room. "Hey, Carter, come here....I've found something on this computer that you might want to check out."  
Carter joined Irwin, who was standing at the huge supercomputer, bathed in its artificial light blue glow. "What'd you find, Irwin?", he asked.  
Irwin leaned back in his chair in a relaxed position. "I guess I should really start from the beginning.", he said, "This underground complex is an old American military bunker from before the Great Cataclysm. It was commissioned by the department of Science and Technology for the purpose of perfecting the science of cryogenics. Project Winter was their first long-term experiment."  
"Military, eh?", Miguel said loudly from across the room, "That means there's gotta be a munitions bin around here, right? Ooo, we can make some serious denero off this place!"  
"What's 'cryogenics'?", Carter asked, ignoring Miguel.  
"Cryogenics is...uh...you know, freezing people."  
Carter stared at Irwin blankly.  
"Uh...okay...let me try to explain. Those capsules introduce a freezing agent into the bodies of the experiment volunteers through the air they breathe. The agent slows down their life signs to a mere fraction of the normal rate. This way, the body uses less energy, and can last much longer. The people are asleep in a state of suspended animation. When they wake up, they will feel as though only an hour or two has gone by."  
"Wait..., so you're telling me that these here people have been sleeping underground for over 300 years? Through the Cataclysm and the Rifts and all the shit since then...they've just been sleeping here?"  
"Um....yes. That's exactly what I'm telling you."  
Carter looked back out to the rows and rows of capsules. They hummed along as they always have, cold and silent, but eerily alive.  
"But how?", he asked no one in particular, "There's no one here to run the place....and where's the power coming from? How could this have stayed hidden for so long?"  
"Well, from what I can tell, the complex is almost entirely self- automated. The computers run everything. A crew of scientists and some military personnel was stationed here, but only for security and to record what happened in their research. And as for the power, the place ran mostly on solar power until the outside panels went down.....and that was years ago. Since then, the place has been running on reserves, and tapping into its own nuclear power plant when it needed to. This is some seriously high-tech stuff, Carter. I tell you what; Pre-Rifts technology never ceases to amaze me. This stuff is top- of-the-line."  
"Wow....", Carter said, trying to get his lighter to work. He wanted another cigarette. It was useless, so he tucked it and the stick away. "Hey, do you guys realize what we've found here? Live human beings from before the Great Cataclysm! These people have no idea what's been going on in the world for three hundred years! I mean, they've never seen a dragon or a rift or a demon or a Coalition Soldier or any of the shit we have to put up with every day! Imagine what we could learn from them about the past. Imagine the stories they could tell us of how things used to be before all this bullshit!"  
Miguel paid Carter no attention. He was too busy picking dirt and rocks out of his matted black beard. He couldn't have cared less about these people or the time before the rifts. He only cared about finding some place to nurse some whiskey and take a quick siesta.  
Carter, noticing Miguel's lack of enthusiasm, turned back to Irwin. He was very excited. "Irwin, man, we have got to let these people out!"  
Irwin stood up. "Carter, calm down, please. We don't know anything about these people or this experiment. If we tampered with it, they could die!"  
"Not with you at the keyboard, you techno-freak!", Carter said happily, "There's got to be some kind of procedure for re-introducing these people back into the world. Find it. I think we might have hit upon the greatest discovery of our time. Live human beings....the possibilities for what we could do with them are endless!! I'm gonna be famous!"  
Slightly worried, but obedient, Irwin got to work on the computer, searching for the commands that the American scientists never got to complete. In the back of his mind, he hoped he would not find them. Irwin usually had a sense about these things, and the idea was tugging at him that releasing these "sleepers" back into a world they could not begin to understand could only lead to trouble.  
Carter strode proudly through the rows of capsules. In his mind, he had already taken his new friends to Lazlo to meet the greatest scientific and philosophical minds of the age. 'Go ahead!', he would tell them, 'Perform any test you like; they're from the past! Found 'em in a hole in Texas!' Move ahead to a couple years when he would use them as political weapons against the Coalition government. They wouldn't dare fire on the people they only wished they could be. Hell, they might even surrender the whole empire to Carter. 'Emperor Carter Melvin; ruler of the Coalition Sta.....no, ruler of the whole universe'...yeah, that had a nice ring to it That would certainly show Jackie who's a dirty mercenary. Well, maybe if she apologized real nice and promised to stop acting like such a bitch, he would take her back. Then again, maybe it's good that she's gone , hopefully forever this time. If he were Emperor, the ladies would be all over him. 'Yeah,', Carter thought, 'Once I'm Supreme Overlord of Earth, I won't need Jackie at all. I can have any woman I want!'  
Carter continued to amuse himself with these kinds of daydreams until he happened to walk past capsule number "020". He glanced inside the capsule, through the frosty glass at the young woman inside. Carter's first thought was that she was rather pretty. She was very young looking; Carter guessed her age to be about twenty.....twenty...two, nah, probably twenty-one, with a small peaceful face and dark blonde hair. But what really caught Carter's attention was the key tied to a string around her neck. Carter watched the key, nestled in her bosom, as it bobbed ever so slowly up and down when the girl breathed. There was something familiar about that key. On the hilt of the key was an engraving of the letter "M", in a lavishly ornate design. Suddenly, Carter's fantasies disappeared in a flash as he turned back to Irwin and called to him.  
"Irwin! Can you do me a favor real quick?"  
"Sure."  
"Stop whatever you're doing and get me a list of the names of these people."  
"Yeah, okay, no problem."  
Carter studied the girl's face a little bit. His hand moved to a small leather satchel attached to his belt. He removed the satchel from its place and walked back up to where Irwin was sitting. Miguel, seeing the cold hard look of concern on Carter's face, got up from the floor and followed him.  
All three of the men gathered around the computer screen as a list of names flew by. Each volunteer's name had a file attached to it.  
"There.", Carter said, pointing at the screen to the number '020'. "Open that file." Irwin opened the file. A list of vital statistics flew down the screen. Carter read through the list as fast as he could....height - five feet, six inches, weight - a hundred fifteen, birthdate - September ninth, 2075....that would make her....twenty....uh...twenty- something. At the top of the screen was a photograph of the girl in the capsule. She smiled brightly, blissfully unaware of the chaos that she would sleep through. Above the photo, in big, bold letters, it said 'SUBJECT 020: MELVIN, AMY COLLEEN"  
"Melvin?", said Miguel, "Hey, boss, "That's your last name too! What're the chances of that? Two people with the same crappy last name meeting in a place like this, eh?"  
Carter almost couldn't believe what he saw. "Holy Jesus.", he said, "That makes her.....you guys know who this girl is? She's my ancestor! That key around her neck proves it!"  
"What the hell are you talking about, boss?", Miguel asked. "Yeah, even if she was your ancestor, it's been 300 years, Carter. Your bloodline has to have been pretty diluted since then. And last names and things get changed when people marry." "I know, but she has that key!", Carter said, pointing to Amy's capsule. He led them over to it and showed them the key that lay on Amy's cold chest. "That key is an heirloom that's been in my family for generations. It's handed down from mother to daughter every generation."  
Irwin and Miguel just stared at Carter. It was hard to tell if it was out of confusion or lack of interest. Either way, Carter was beginning to worry them. He had been acting strangely ever since he and Jackie had their little reunion.  
"The key fits into a music box.", Carter continued, "They're both given out at the weddings of the young Melvin daughters. Y'know, a nice little gift set." Carter took the satchel that was still in his hand and emptied the contents into his other hand. Out of the satchel came a rusty old lock, engraved with the same image as on the hilt of Amy's key.  
With the lock was a small statuette. A tiny porcelain ballerina, executing a beautiful pirouette. Her paint was coming off, and she was chipped in places. Her feet were attached to a little metal disk that had broken off the rest of the box a long time ago. These two pieces were all that remained of the music box that had been handed down through Carter's family since the days right before the American Civil War. "Unfortunately, this is all that remains of the box.", said Carter, sadly, "Life has been rough. I guess we're lucky that we have even this."  
"So how come you have the box pieces, Carter?", asked Irwin, "I thought it was passed down the female side of your family."  
"My family was killed off by vampires. When I left home, I took it with me because there was no more female side. I'm the last of my blood." Carter turned back to Amy. He spoke to her. "And that's why finding you is so important to me, Amy. Our family can go on." "I never met a man so attached to his family.", Miguel said lightly to Irwin. Carter turned back around to Miguel. "Well, watching everyone you love die at the hands of vampires has the tendency to change a man.", he said.  
Carter walked back up to the computer. He was deep in thought. Irwin followed him. Miguel stayed and watched Amy. Miguel didn't understand why Carter was so focused on this girl...this girl from the past. Miguel had never even met his father, and his mother had been raped and decapitated by Pecos bandits when he was just a little boy. He had wept for his mother, and even taken a few lives in revenge, but he moved on. Life was too short to think too much on the dead.  
"Irwin, we're having a change in plans.", Carter ordered.  
"Oh, good. Then you're giving up the insane idea about letting these people out of their sleep, right?"  
"Right."  
"Oh, good!"  
"We're just going to let Amy out."  
"Amy?!", Irwin said, surprised, "Carter, listen to yourself! You're talking about this girl like you're a couple of old friends! We can't let her out; imagine the shock of seeing the world like this! She's from before the Rifts! She won't be able to understand what's happened!"  
"Hey, Listen to me, Irwin.", said Carter, pointing a stern finger at Irwin, "I said 'We're letting Amy out'! Now that means 'We're letting Amy out'! That's an order, and you will do it!"  
"Y...Yes, sir."  
Irwin continued his search for the release procedure. He was beginning to doubt Carter's leadership abilities. Instead of finding his team a way out of this hole and going after their bounty, Carter was caught up on the insane notion that this girl 'Amy' was his direct ancestor. This was all bullshit, as far as Irwin was concerned. He certainly knew that you'd never catch him going all wacko about a member of his family. Except for his sister, Irwin decided that everyone else he was related to could just go fuck themselves. Irwin and Alice Miller were born and raised in the Coalition State of Iron Heart, to a family that was somewhat well off. Their father owned a lot of stock in Coalition weaponry, and after the market exploded in 88 P.A., the family was set for life. Irwin and Alice rebelled against their parents, Irwin by losing himself in his secret (and highly illegal) world of books and learning, and Alice by learning the complexities of magic. Their secret activities didn't stay so for very long, and soon the whole family was under investigation. To show their loyalty to the CS (and to avoid persecution and possible termination), their parents both publicly humiliated and chastised their children, then sent them out, proclaiming that they were evil and an embarrassment to the Coalition States. Thusly, Irwin and Alice have a fair amount of contempt for their family. Apparently, gold is thicker than blood.  
Irwin shook his head to dust out the old cobwebs. All this talk about family had him thinking about things that were really best forgotten. He turned his attention back to the computer screen. Not a minute later, he found the command to release Amy and any other 'sleeper' he wanted.  
"Carter, I found it!", Irwin said.  
"Good work, Irwin." Carter commended. He walked back down to Amy's capsule. Miguel stood by him, suddenly eager to watch the show. "Let her out." Irwin complied. He hit the button on the screen that ended the experiment for Amy that started three hundred years ago.  
Chamber 020 suddenly sprang to life. Lights began blinking all over the machinery. Steam shot out from under the capsule. The coolant that held Amy in her suspended state was slowly replaced by a warming agent. Her capsule lost its icy blue glow as it started to heat up. Amy's lungs expanded with the heat, and her breathing started becoming more regular. The frost covering the inside of the capsule quickly melted. It condensed and hung to the glass inside. Sort of like watching someone through the other side of a bathroom mirror after a particularly long and hot shower. Through the mist, they could see Amy, slightly moving about. Her eyelids twitched. Her lips, slightly parted, began to take in more air. Her skin quickly became a healthy warm color as her blood raced through her veins. The sudden rush of blood through her heart startled her system, and adrenaline was released into her bloodstream. When this happened, her eyes shot open and her arms went up and punched the glass surrounding her.  
Carter and Miguel, surprised by Amy's attack on the glass, jumped back. The last thing to activate on Amy's capsule was the electro-magnetic lock on the glass hatch. When it deactivated, the hatch slid open, and Amy's lungs tasted the stale recycled air of 300 years of isolation.  
When the hatch opened completely, Carter and Miguel walked over to the capsule. They stood over Amy and looked down at her.  
Amy's eyes were open wide. Her breathing came in short gasps. She had a bewildered look to her face, and her hands were down at her sides, gripping the padding she slept in. She looked as if at any moment, she might spring out of the capsule and dart for a dark corner. She reminded Carter of a homeless cat, starved and caught in a corner, scared to death and ready to flee.  
Amy couldn't see the objects moving about in front of her. Her eyes were horrible out of focus for some reason. And she couldn't talk. Her tongue felt like it weighed fifty pounds. She couldn't move, either, but she was slightly aware that she was stiffly holding on to her bed. She didn't know where she was or how she had gotten there. The last thing she remembered was the party....she had been to a party.....a huge one, with hundreds of other people she didn't know...and there were doctors there. Everyone was listening to really bad music, having a couple drinks...'Not too much, Amy.', the doctors had told her, 'We can't have the alcohol messing with the experiment. We need your body strong and healthy for tomorrow morning.'...what the hell were they talking about?  
Suddenly, Amy heard a voice. A person's voice. She couldn't tell what they were saying, but it wasn't a voice from the party. This was a voice she was hearing now. Maybe they were talking to her? She'd better say something quick, or they'll think she's drunk. But she didn't even have all that much to drink at the party; why would they think that? She tried to make a sound. 'Hi', she wanted to say, 'Is the experiment over already? Can I have my five thousand bucks now? Can I see my husband and daughter now?' Unfortunately, what came out sounded like 'Buhhh?' to her ears.  
"Hi...Amy.", Carter said, not really knowing what to say. She looked confused and scared, and Carter tried to think of something to say that would ease her mind. He didn't realize that her condition was the result of the coolant being expelled from her body. Plus, she hadn't moved a muscle in three hundred years. She was a little stiff. Her body needed a minute to catch up.  
"Bienvenidos!", said Miguel cheerfully, "We...we're you're amigos! We're not going to hurt you, eh! We were wondering if you could show us where the weapons are?"  
Carter bumped Miguel with his elbow and shot him a dirty look. "Knock it off.", he said quietly.  
Amy's mouth opened a little bit. A sound came out of her. "Buhhh?" Her voice was scratchy and confused.  
"Um...Hi, Amy, my name is Carter."  
Amy's expression did not change. She made no more sound.  
"Maybe she don't speak English, eh, boss?"  
"Of course she speaks English; they spoke English before the Rifts...."  
"It's the Cryogenics.", Irwin chimed in. Carter and Miguel hadn't even realized he had come down to join them. "She's fully awake, but her body is having some trouble compensating for lost time. She can't see us or hear us, and she has no motor functions."  
"What?!", said Carter, concerned, "How long is this going to last? Is she going to be okay?"  
"She should be just fine. Her bio-readouts are all normal. A little high, but that's to be expected."  
After a couple minutes that felt like hours, things started to come into focus for Amy. The blobby shapes moving about in front of her slowly became people. Three humanoid shapes came into full view.....but now Amy was even more confused than before. She had never seen these people before in her entire life. And at first glance, Amy knew they weren't scientists. They were dirty, and as her nose started working again, she noticed that they stunk. They smelled like cheap liquor and dirt and sweat and smoke. Not cigarette smoke, but smoke from a real fire. It reminded Amy of a trip to Mexico she took in high school. In fact, these people looked like the poor in Mexico she had seen walking the streets. Only one was actually Hispanic; the other two were white guys, but they all needed a bath.  
Slowly, Amy's death grip on her bedding was released. She felt like she was regaining some amount of control over her body again. But then, suddenly, Amy's senses came back to her in a flash. First, she felt a hot fire in her stomach. Like a volcano, she felt the fire rise to her throat, and then, an all-too-familiar sensation. Amy vomited over the side of the capsule.  
Carter, Miguel, and Irwin jumped back. A disgusting mixture poured out of Amy's stomach onto the floor. It came all in one thrust, and she was emptied. Amy's head hung there for a moment. She had two dry heaves, then wiped her mouth with her sleeve.  
Amy looked up at the three men who were still staring at her. Once she got a better look, things only got even more confusing. Not only were they dirty and smelly, but they were dressed strangely. They were all dressed like....Amy didn't even know what. They wore dirty old shirts and jackets, and the Mexican had a large cowboy hat. Two of the men had guns tucked into holsters at their sides and by their shoulders. They looked like characters from some post-apocalyptic western movie.  
"I'm sorry.", said Amy. Her voice was beginning to sound more normal, but she was still terribly weak. "I threw up."  
"Um....it's okay.", one of the men said. He was the tallest of the three. He spoke with a slight Texan accent. He seemed nice enough, though. He smiled at her nervously. "H.....how are you feeling? That clear everything out?"  
"Ugh....I feel like shit.", Amy groaned, "Who are you guys? Is the experiment over?" Amy took a quick glance around the room. None of the other volunteers had been released. And most of the lights were off, too. There was no party waiting for her like they said there would be....in fact, she and these three cowboys were the only people in the room. Amy suddenly became a little suspicious of her situation.  
"Where's Dr. Malcolm?", she asked, cautiously.  
"Dr. Malcolm isn't here.", the man said, "He sent us to get you."  
"Why? Is there something wrong with me?"  
"Well, not to alarm you, but there were some complications with your particular vessel. We had to release you prematurely.", Irwin said, trying to concoct a believable story.  
Amy was a little more at ease,....but not much. "So who are you guys?", she asked.  
"My name is Dr. Miller.", Irwin said. He took a look at Carter and Miguel and said, "My compatriots here are....well...they're...they're from the government. Don't worry about them, they're okay guys."  
"Oh. Oh, well, okay.", Amy said, not entirely convinced, but willing to play along. "If you would, Miss Melvin, please follow me to the infirmary so we can conduct a proper and thorough examination."  
"Sure, lead the way."  
Amy followed the three odd men down the hallways. Everything looked just like she remembered it. Her thoughts went to when she first walked down these halls, thinking, as she was now how cold and emotionless everything looked. The floor was freezing to Amy, who walked in a pair of government-issued pajamas, but nothing to cover her feet.  
There was one other strange thing Amy noticed. The silence. Everything was just so quiet. She couldn't hear anything other than their footsteps. She couldn't hear the computers grinding and beeping away in other rooms, or the hustle of marching troops and the bustle of overworked scientists. It was dead, the whole place....like everyone who worked here just left.  
'Oh, God, what a horrible thought!', Amy imagined to herself, 'What if that's it?! What if everybody just left and forgot about us? We could have been down here for years!' Amy tried to put such thoughts out of mind, but it was difficult. Everything was just too weird. She wanted to ask the strange men in front of her, but decided it was best to keep quiet. They might be terrorists! 'Oh, God, what an even worse thought!', Amy stewed to herself, ' Maybe they're South American terrorists taking revenge against America for that thing in the jungle!' Amy suddenly started to become very nervous.  
"Hey, boss, remind me again why we let that girl out.", Miguel said quietly to Carter. "I....I don't know exactly, Miguel.", Carter replied, "I just gotta talk to her....I want to talk to her about how things used to be."  
"I thought you didn't care about that crap, boss. 'Dead era'; you said it yourself to Danny all the time."  
"Shit...naw, it's different with Danny. Danny only cares about old TV shows and stupid shit like that. I want to know what life was really like before....before all this. Plus, she's family. The only family I got left. I sorta feel an obligation to her now."  
"Why? The rifts weren't your fault."  
"True, but she's here...in my time now. It's nobody's fault, really. But if I don't help her, who will?"  
"Why does anybody have to? She's just one girl; who really gives a shit, eh?"  
"I give a shit, Miguel. I can't explain it to you; this is just something I feel I have to do."  
The metal door to the infirmary slid open with a mechanical 'whoosh' sound as Carter approached it. He entered the lab, followed by Miguel, Irwin, and finally Amy. Carlos, who sat on a table patiently awaiting his friends, looked up at them. His eyes narrowed suspiciously when he saw Amy. Carlos figured this place to be dead....he hadn't expected to see them actually find anyone.  
"Who's she?", Carlos asked in his deep Mexican voice.  
  
"That's Amy.", said Carter. He saw Danny and Alice were awake. "Hey, how are you guys? Danny? How's your head?", he said.  
Danny sat on the floor, nursing a flask of whiskey, staring at the floor. He had a bandage wrapped around his head. "Ugh......", he groaned, "Hurts like a sonofabitch.....What the hell happened to me?"  
"You don't remember?", Carter asked.  
"I remem ber Coalition troops.....SAMs....and you talking to some chick."  
"Well, we had a little skirmish with some Dead Boys up top. We're safe now, though."  
"Skirmish? Jeez, I feel like I just went through a whole war. What'd they do, hit me with a truck?"  
"A missile."  
"Christ.....", Danny groaned to himself. His eyes went to a new face in the room. "Who's the girl?", he asked.  
"Her name's Amy.", Carter said.  
"Yeah? Where'd she come from? She looks like a patient or something."  
"Yeah, something like that." Carter then called to Amy. He motioned for her to come over where he stood by Danny. Timidly, Amy did as she was told.  
"Oh, wow!", she said in amazement when she saw Danny, "Are you a real Juicer? Oh, cool!"  
Danny was amused at her. "Yeah, I'm real.", he said.  
"I've always wanted to meet a real live Juicer! I've seen you guys on the news and on the Discovery Channel, but never in real life! You must be in the army, right?"  
Carter interrupted. "Amy, why don't you have a seat on the table so our doctor can look you over?"  
Amy hopped up on the table. Carlos, the situation being explained to him and Alice by Irwin, came over to Amy and Carter. "Dr. Miller told me about her, Carter. How you want this done?"  
"Check all her vital signs....make sure she's okay...reflexes, breathing, heart rate; the whole nine yards. How's Alice? Did you find out what happened to her?"  
"She woke up on her own.", said Carlos, listening to Amy's chest and back with a stethoscope, "She said it must have been a mental strain. She taxed her powers too hard....the strain of dealing with so many different targets drained her, and she collapsed. She'll be okay; just needs some rest."  
"So who are you people, anyway?", Amy finally asked, "You're not terrorists, I've decided, so I guess it's safe to ask you what's going on here."  
She got no response from anyone, so she turned to Carter specifically. "Well, how about it, 'Carter'? That is your name, right? I bet you're the one in charge. I think I deserve an explanation for what you're doing here."  
"We're rescuing you, Amy.", Carter said.  
"Rescuing me from what? I'm so confused."  
"Look, I'll explain it to you later; I promise. What we really need now is a way out of here. Do you remember where the front door to this place is, Amy? Maybe some other exit like a freight elevator?"  
"No....I don't remember how to get to the entrance...We were sort of rushed through."  
"Shit....okay, Irwin, go back to that computer and bring up a map to this place."  
"Sure thing, Carter.", Irwin said. He went back through the infirmary door and disappeared down the hall.  
Carter then turned to Miguel, smiling greedily. "Hey, Miguel, you wanna go have some fun?"  
"Yeah", Miguel responded. He was interested in hearing more, and phrased his response more like a question.  
"C'mon, then. Let's go see if this place has an ammo bunker!"  
"Hey, now you're speaking my fucking language, boss!", Miguel said, jumping to his feet. He and Carter left the room in an excited rush.  
Amy watched the two men leave, then turned her eyes to who was left.  
Danny, the Juicer, was sitting on the floor next to her. He was sitting with his knees pointed up, and his head nestled down between his legs. It was the only position that was comfortable at all.  
A large Mexican man was examining her....he was strange; sure didn't look like no doctor. He was wearing black leather pants and no shirt. On his chest was an old tattoo of a woman wearing a sombrero and nothing else. The woman in the tattoo appeared to be blowing a kiss. The Mexican didn't talk much, either. He just went about his work, hooking up little sticky pads to Amy's face, neck, and chest. The pads had little wires coming out the end that connected to some sort of machine, like an EKG meter.  
Lastly, there was a woman, lying quietly on a bed closer to the door. She had a wet washcloth over her forehead, and adjusted it every minute or so. She was dressed the weirdest of everybody. She had on a long blue robe. It was beautiful, actually. The robe went down right above her knees, and she was wearing white boots that went up, halfway covering her calves. The robe was open in the front, and Amy could see the woman was wearing a white tank top underneath the robe. All in all, it was an odd get-up. Amy wondered if there hadn't been some sort of massive shift in fashion trends in the two weeks she was asleep. Regardless, the woman and her attire only served to confuse Amy more.  
"How am I doing?", Amy asked the Mexican doctor, not entirely sure if he would answer her.  
"Good. Very good, in fact. I can't imagine why Carter wanted me to check you over; there's nothing wrong with you at all. Heart rate is a little high, but nothing to write home about."  
"Great!", Amy said, pleased with herself, "I guess the experiment was a success, then, right?" The Mexican looked over his shoulder at Amy. He had this look on his face that Amy could recognize. It was the look that said he knew something she didn't, and he was about to lie to her.  
"Yeah, you could say that.", he said, more to himself than to Amy.  
"That's good., said Amy, "Maybe now you could tell me who you guys are, and why you woke me up early."  
"My name is Carlos.", the Mexican said, not looking away from his readouts.  
"Amy....look, I'm just as confused as you are.", Danny said quietly, "But Carter's the man around here, and he'll explain everything to us when he's good and ready. Until then, I suggest we relax and play it cool. You're not in any danger here; we're all a bunch of good guys, and we're gonna take care of you." Amy nodded, unsatisfied. Danny's hand reached up to Amy. It had his flask of liquor in it. "Here.", he said, "Have a drink. Relax, kid."  
Amy took the metal container from Danny's hand and put it to her lips. Doubtfully, she tilted the flask back, letting some whiskey pour into her mouth. It tasted like crap. She swallowed, then grimaced as the bitter taste swam all over tongue and then dived down her throat.  
"It's good shit, isn't it.", Danny said happily.  
  
A half-hour later, Irwin had come a lot closer to finding a map of the building, but because of having to drudge his way past security passwords, things were going slow. He took offf his glasses and wiped the sweat from his forehead onto his sleeve. He was uncomfortably warm, even though the room was a pleasant 75 degrees. In his moment of distraction, he gazed out into the rows of frozen people, and shuddered. It struck him as somewhat disturbing....to see those people asleep, lined up like a field of corn...oblivious to the world. Then, Irwin turned his attention back to the computer and continued his search. He suddenly realized how badly he wanted out of this underground meat locker.  
Carter and Miguel were no better off. They had wandered the metal hallways for what seemed like hours, and found nothing of interest. No other ventilation shafts, no elevators, no exit signs, nothing. They couldn't even find anything of any value that they could sell. Miguel had hoped they would find a room littered with weapons, but there was no such luck.  
They did find some corpses, however. Skeletal remains of scientists popped up occasionally, lying on the floor, sitting in chairs with their heads back, gaping at the ceiling. Some were pretty damaged, too. One, in particular, caught Carter's interest. Looking at the picture ID clipped to the front of the medical smock, they learned that the skeleton once belonged to a woman named 'Ashley Bennet'. Ashley Bennet was a high-level doctor working on Project Winter. Her ID had a bar code on it that might come in handy. Carter tucked the ID into his pocket. Poor Dr. Bennet's skull had been pretty messed up. A large hole was in the back of her head, and her face was all but gone. The collar of the smock was dyed a dark red color. Scattered along the floor were fragments of bone. Carter assumed they were bits and pieces to Dr. Bennet's face. Among the fragments was a large lead bullet, shot from a .45 caliber gun. Carter and Miguel shook their heads and continued walking.  
While Irwin was hard at work on his computer, and Carter was looking at Miguel through the hole in Dr. Bennet's head, wondering again how horrible it must have been to be trapped down here in the days after the Cataclysm, Amy and Danny were sharing some light conversation. Amy was beginning to like Danny. He wasn't quite as serious as the rest of these people; he seemed more relaxed. He didn't seem to have a care in the world, and Amy bet he never worried about anything. Danny learned about Project Winter from her, and realized just then that this girl had just missed the last three hundred years. He skipped around some topics that Amy asked him, like where he was born, what he and the others did for their livings, and what he was doing for the Christmas holiday. Danny just assumed it would be better that Amy not know about.....well, the things Amy didn't know about. Not yet, anyway. Carter knew the story better than anyone did. He would let Carter tell it.  
Carlos stood at the door to the infirmary, looking out through the little window. He was watching to see when Irwin or Carter might come back. Alice stood by him, occasionally looking out through the glass, but mostly just pacing back and forth. Carlos had explained everything to her; about the Coalition troops, the ventilation shaft, the explosion, getting trapped underground...and finally, about Amy and the sleepers. Alice paced back and forth between the two walls. She was used to relying on her magic for almost everything, and the fact that she could do nothing to improve their situation left her feeling trapped and useless.  
Soon, Carter and Miguel were discouraged enough to return to the infirmary. Although it felt like they covered about a million miles of underground metal nothingness, most of the steps they had taken were over steps they had already taken. Consequently, Carter and Miguel did not stray far enough from the infirmary to really find anything of any importance. If they had some way of marking which paths they had already taken, they might have found the entrance to the Project Winter complex. As it were, they did not, so they returned to the infirmary with no more knowledge or pre-rifts treasures than they left with.  
"Find anything, Carter?", Alice asked them, hopeful.  
"Nothing.", said Carter, sadly.  
"Yeah, man, we ain't found a damn thing in here!", Miguel scowled, "Whole place is dead! And I know they gotta have some weapons someplace, cuz we found slugs and skulls with pieces shot out of em and shit!"  
"Skulls? You guys found some dead people?", Alice asked. She was slightly scared now. "Hey, guys, shut the fuck up, eh?!", Carter whispered harshly to them, "I don't want Amy hearing about no fucking dead people, alright?!"  
"Hey, Carter, what's the deal with the girl?", Alice said to him, barely above a whisper.  
"They didn't tell you?"  
"Yeah, Carlos told me you guys found her and a bunch of other people asleep down the hall....what are they, refugees?"  
"No, they're not fucking refugees....they're survivors from before the rifts."  
"Wow, no kidding?"  
"Serious as a heart attack."  
"Jesus...." Alice took another long look at Amy. The girl was still talking to Danny. Carter knew that Danny was kind of a numbskull, but hoped he had enough good sense not to tell Amy anything stupid.....not yet anyway.  
"Shit, Carter, this place is really creeping me out. When can we leave?", Alice continued. She moved closer to him.  
"As soon as your brother finds a map out of here.", Carter said, "Hey, why don't you go on down the hall and see how the little guy's doing. Miguel, show her the way."  
"Sure thing, boss.", Miguel said, "Let's go, baby!"  
Miguel stepped in front of the door, then moved aside as it slid open. He put his hand out into the doorway, politely showing Alice the way. Alice walked through, and Miguel followed, his eyes doing their best to watch her butt move underneath her robe.  
Carter frowned at Miguel. The man had no class...no sense on how to respect a lady. Oh well, it was easily dismissed.  
Carter went over to where Amy and Danny were still talking. Amy was telling Danny about how she was going to use some of the money the government was paying her for this experiment to spend Christmas in a resort in the Rockies with her family. She said the only problem would be the holiday traffic, but she couldn't wait to see her family again. She was very eager to get to the mountains and celebrate Christmas. Danny shot a concerned glance at Carter. 'Should I tell her?', the look said.  
Amy smiled at Carter. She was feeling much better; it was like she hadn't been asleep at all.  
"Hi, Carter.", she said happily.  
"Hi, Amy. How are you feeling? Still sick?"  
"No, I feel just fine, actually. A little hungry. Care to tell me what's going on yet?"  
"Well, what's going on is we're waiting for Dr. Miller to ..um.....gather up the information we need. Then we'll get out of here and get you something to eat."  
"Great. When do I get paid...and when do I get to see my family?"  
"Later." Carter leaned a chair up against a wall and sat down in it, keeping perfect balance. He tucked his arms into each other and shut his eyes. Carter was ready for a long nap. "Much later." Amy frowned, dissatisfied with his answer, and turned back to Danny. He was trying to get the last drops of liquor out of his flask. It was no good. It was empty.  
"Hey, Danny?", Amy asked.  
"Yeah?"  
"What are the chances of me getting some clothes?"  
"What's the matter? Drafty hospital garb not good enough for Miss Amy?"  
  
"No. How would you like it if you had to wear this stupid outfit with no underpants? Everyone can see my ass!"  
"Oh, please.....You just woke up from a 300-year sleep. The last thing you should be concerned with is people looking at your ass.", Danny said, without realizing what he was saying until it was too late to cover it up.  
Amy looked at him, confused. "Oh, whatever. Two weeks is hardly three hundred years.", she said, assuming his remark was a joke, delivered with an odd amount of seriousness to his voice.  
And in the corner of the room, Carter slept.......  
  
And in his sleep, Carter was plagued with bad dreams. In his dream, he was back in the Coalition army. Carter was a grunt in the CS infantry. He and a bunch of other soldiers were nameless, faceless bringers of black metal death. They were all in the room with the sleepers. Brown dust and dirt covered everything.  
Carter looked up and saw his old drill instructor from his time in Lone Star's training camp. He was screaming something unintelligible. He pointed madly at the sleepers. Carter knew what he wanted them to do......he was ordering them to slaughter the sleepers. Although Carter could not understand the drill instructor's words, he knew what he was saying. Everywhere around him, Coalition Soldiers were setting fire to the machinery that held the sleeping volunteers. The poor sleepers were completely unaware that they were being burned alive.  
Carter looked again, and every Coalition Soldier had Jackie's face. Some of them smiled happily at him as they went about executing the innocent sleepers. One of the Jackie-soldiers came up to him and took his hand. "Come on, Carter, play with me!", she said, "We can kill together!"  
A spout of flame from one of the burning machines engulfed Carter as Jackie led him through the aisles of massacre. He shut his eyes out of an instinctive defense, and when he opened them, there was only one Jackie-soldier; the one who still had a hold on his hand. The other soldiers had become vampires. Their pale, leathery skin wrapped about the horrified sleepers like a snake. Blood poured from open wounds on the sleepers' necks and chest and spilled out onto the floor.  
Jackie had Amy's hair between her fingers. With a long, devilish red tongue, Jackie licked Amy's neck, taunting the flesh and the vein underneath, while her eyes chilled Carter to the bone. Amy's eyes were shut and her lips hung open dreamily. She breathed heavily.  
Amy's eyes reflected the sharp pain in her throat when Jackie sunk her mouthful of fangs into Amy's jugular vein. Blood oozed messily out and stained Amy's hospital garb. A quick gasp escaped Amy's lungs. Jackie let go of Amy's neck and pushed her into Carter's chest.  
"We can kill together, Carter.", Jackie's voice echoed in Carter's ears, "We can kill for the States! You can kill for me! Kill Amy for me!"  
Amy fell limp against Carter. He picked her up and watched the warmth drain from her sleeping face as the blood ran from her throat.  
"You do love me, Carter...don't you? Tell me you love me. Tell me we'll be together for ever, Carter."  
That was the end. Carter awoke with a start. He looked around the room, forgetting where he was. He saw Amy, Danny, Carlos, Alice, and Miguel all standing by the door. Miguel was telling them something, very excitedly. Amy had gotten rid of her hospital gown and was wearing a blue and white striped shirt, a pair of khakis, and some tennis shoes. Danny looked over at Carter.  
"Hey, Carter-man!", Danny said cheerfully, "Great news! Irwin finally found the blueprints to this joint! We are outta here!"  
"Terrific.....how long was I out?", Carter asked, taking a look at his watch and forgetting that it stopped three weeks ago.  
"About an hour.", Danny said, "You looked like you were having some kinda wacky dream too. Oh, I hope you don't mind, I went and found Amy some clothes."  
"No, that's fine. C'mon, let's get that map and get the fuck out of here."  
  
Looking at the blueprints of the facility, Irwin learned that it was enormous. Its name was the Fort Rice military and science center. It was about 14x20 miles, and nearly a quarter of a mile underground. It had been built in the middle of the 20th century to house weapons, supplies, and a scientific research facility, specifically geared towards genetics and biology. He found reference material used in Project Winter, which told of experiments in cryogenics going back to the early 21st century. Project Winter was supposed to be their greatest achievement, and one more brick in the wall of the Golden Age of Mankind.  
Irwin was particularly interested in the digital video diary that he found of the head scientist in charge of Project Winter, a man named Dr. Samuel McClane. The diary had an entry for every day of Project Winter, from day one, up until December 21st, 2098. Doctor McClane said that the patients were doing very well, and they would be released in three more days. It looked like Project Winter was a success, and he and his whole team were very excited.....  
  
"I do have some bad news, though. We are all very excited here in the lab, but outside in the rest of the world, it looks like things have gotten very ugly. They've declared war up there.....everybody. They say it's going to be World War 3, and personally, I don't know if anyone can survive it. With all the advancements we as a society have made in just the last 20 years alone.....we can destroy this planet if we want. And I'm afraid....we're all afraid that we're going to. That's why Project Winter is so important. It's about preserving life, not destroying it. Some countries have already declared war.....all because of that bullshit....I'm sorry....all because of that mess down in South America with the Glitter Boys.....now we're in danger of nuking ourselves into oblivion. Oh well....I have faith that things will turn out for the best. God will provide for us."  
  
After that, the messages get more sporadic. Dr. McClane inputs only about 12 more entries. The rest are just random images and static. The last diary entry that Irwin could find was dated July 19th, 2099. In it, a very haggard and run-down Dr McClane mumbles to the camera. He has a bandaged wound on his head, and dried blood running down his face. In his hands he clutches a revolver. His eyes are tired, hungry, and scared.  
  
".....the last of the food is gone. I killed Dr. Winston. I might eat her. The others that left......they're not coming back...I know that now. Something got them. A demon or something got them. I don't even know if they are demons. I don't know anything anymore. Maybe I'm going insane....maybe none of this is really happening, and I'm in a padded cell somewhere."  
Dr. McClane moved in closer to the camera so that the screen only got his eyes and nose, albeit horribly out of focus. "Or maybe I'm already insane and I killed all my comrades. Then the government would send someone to get me....they'd send a team of people to catch me....someone will come eventually...someone will come help me......"  
The transmission broke up there, with Dr. McClane's face pressed up against the camera lens. Irwin was about to shut off the video diary when the static broke and the good doctor's weary face came back on. "I saw a light in the sky!", he said, whispering excitedly, as if letting go a secret that ate at him for months, "I went outside last night and saw a light! It was beautiful! It started out like a ....a....river of blue energy....it was so big and so beautiful....the ground started to shake.....I could taste the energy in the air. It electrified me. It excited me...it was like looking at the face of God. I don't know what it was, but it was so beautiful. Then something happened.....the river exploded....not like a bad explosion, but a good one....it knocked me down, the concussive force knocked me down, and the ground trembled and broke up where I lay. And there in the sky I gazed upon heaven!! I saw heaven last night! The purest white light opened up from the blue river, like a giant vagina......It was God's vagina, up there in the sky.....I could feel it's warmth....i could feel the love coming from it. It wanted me. It beckoned to me to enter it. And...and I would have! But it was so high up...at least 30....no a hundred feet in the air! It was the doorway to heaven, I know it was. The world is gone and now the angels have come to take me home. The sinners will stay and burn with the demons!! The Juicers and Crazies and Robots and Cyborgs! They'll all die because they're all killers!!!..........I'm going out there again tonight. I want to see the light again....i want to enter the light.........I........."  
That was Dr. McClane's last entry.  
Irwin sat back and tried to comprehend what Dr. McClane was feeling, in those, the early days of the Great Cataclysm. The fear and insanity on the poor man's face was a horrible sight. It struck a nerve with Irwin. He couldn't imagine what life was like after the ley lines exploded.....how could anyone have survived?  
Irwin was shaken out of his deep thought by a hand on his shoulder.  
"Get back on the clock, partner.", Carter said. Irwin jumped about a foot off his chair.  
"Shit, Carter, you scared me to death!", Irwin yelped.  
"Sorry....you looked like you were in a daze.....you're working to hard, buddy. Miguel says you found a map to this place."  
"Oh, yeah! It's right here!", Irwin snapped out happily. He typed wildly on the keyboard, deciding it was better not to tell the others about Dr. McClane's video....especially Amy.  
A blue architectural layout of the entire complex scrolled up on the screen. Irwin pointed to the largest room on the east side, marked 'Cryogenic Stasis Experimentation Room'. "We are here.", Irwin said. He drug his finger up to the northwest corner of the map, to what appeared to be a large foyer and door. "Here's the entrance. It's about 14 miles away."  
"Holy shit!", said Danny, "This fucking place is huge!"  
"You ain't kidding cabron.", said Miguel, "How we gonna find our way through 14 miles of nothing, eh?"  
"Whatever....You guys haven't ever seen the Lone Star military base....that place makes Ft. Rice look like a mousehole.", said Carter.  
"Well, the scientists used little battery-powered cars to get around here quickly.", said Irwin, "I found one, over there under a tarp, but it won't work. It's dead."  
"Well, look on that map for a weapon storage.", said Miguel, "Could we blow the rocks off the grate we came down in?"  
"Are you kidding, amigo?", said Carter, "We'd blow roof down on top of us before we could crack those boulders. Let's face it: the only way out is a long 14-mile walk to the entrance, and another one back to our buggies."  
Irwin printed out a scaled-down version of the map for them to go by.  
Fourteen miles never seemed so long until Carter and the others walked them in an enormous metal ant farm. It was almost like being in a maze; this whole complex. The scenery never changed as they hiked to the entrance. It was all just the same featureless hallways and occasional door. Things were eerily quiet, especially to Amy's ears.  
Danny scouted ahead of everybody else, as per Carter's orders, to remove any bodies so she would not see them. Carter hated to do it. He wanted to sit Amy down and tell her the story of the Rifts, and explain that he and his team saved her life, but this was not the time. Carter knew that Jackie would be back. She would search through the rubble to see if Carter was dead, and when she did, she'd find that metal grate. Then this joint would be swarming with Coalition soldiers. Carter wanted them all to be as far away as possible when that happened.  
Danny also had to scout ahead to turn on all the power. Someone had gone to the trouble of turning everything off, and now it was pitch black underground. And there was one more reason Danny scouted ahead....the possibility that they were not alone down there was likely. It was, after all, a large enough area, some creature could have made a stretch of the hallway or some office its home. It was just common sense to have someone do recon in an unfamiliar and potentially dangerous area like this.  
Thankfully, though, Ft. Rice was free of monsters or vampires or demons or bandits. After a madly tiring walk through the bulk of the complex, they all finally reached the main door.  
The foyer that led to the main door was enormous within itself. It was at least 200 feet from where Carter stood to the door, and ceilings over 40 feet high. All parked up against the walls were automobiles of varying types; mostly civilian. However, at the far end, Miguel spotted a large military vehicle. He immediately became excited at the prospect of it being filled with Golden-Age weaponry.  
"Here we are, gang!", Irwin said, proudly.  
"Finally. Good job, Irwin. ", said Carter.  
They all went over to the door and looked up at it. It was at least 25 feet tall, and a couple of feet thick. No wonder there weren't any monsters in here; Ft. Rice was sealed up tight. Miguel became more interested in the military vehicle he found, and went in for a closer look.  
It was apparently some sort of troop transport vehicle. It was shaped something like a large semi, with a small front end for the driver, and a long passenger compartment. Miguel climbed up inside it and found a small stockpile of M-16 rifles. There was also a skeleton sitting against the far wall of the passenger area. He had one of the rifles sitting between his legs, the butt on the floor and the barrel between his teeth. The wall behind him was covered with dusty bits of skull and a stained red splat. Miguel climbed down out of the vehicle.  
"Hey, boss, I think we can take this big truck out of here! It's full of guns. It's military, so it might have a nuclear engine that still works.", Miguel said to Carter, who was inspecting the huge door.  
"That's great, amigo, but it won't do us any good unless we can get this door open. Irwin thinks he could short-circuit the power, but he said it would take time."  
Miguel noticed a computer terminal on the wall. It was identical to the terminal next to the Project Winter laboratory. "Hey, boss, Where's that card you found? The ID?"  
Carter fished Dr. Ashley Bennet's ID keycard out of his pocket and handed it to Miguel. Miguel took it and winked. "No need for that, boss."  
Miguel slid the card through a slot on the terminal and the screen buzzed to life. It had a single message that read "Open Door? Yes/No" Miguel tapped the screen where it read "Yes".  
There was suddenly a loud rumble that seemed to come from all around them. It grew steadily louder and more volatile. The room started to shake with the force. The rumble was soon accompanied by a god-awful screech coming from inside the walls. The mechanism that opened and closed the huge metal doors was coming to life after three hundred years, and it was fighting the rust and dirt that had packed between its gears.  
"Woo! Made in the USA, right Amy?!!", Danny screamed over the noise.  
Amy couldn't hear him. "What?!!", she responded.  
Slowly, but surely, the door began to slide into the wall. The artificial fluorescent light was quickly replaced by the bright yellow glow of the afternoon Texas sun. A light wind blew a layer of sand and grit onto the metal floor. Amy shielded her eyes from the light.  
Soon, the door stopped moving. There was a last creak from the internal mechanisms, then a loud snap of metal. This door wasn't going anywhere else. Fortunately, though, it had opened up enough room for them to get a truck through.  
Carlos and Miguel went through the troop transport truck that Miguel found. They counted the weapons, 20 rifles with no ammunition, 15 9mm pistols, and tucked under the canopy they found a tripod- mounted energy cannon. Carlos was an expert on weapons. He could identify any firearm currently in use in North America, many from abroad, and some from other worlds. However the energy weapon they found was completely unknown to him. They were left to assume it was built before the Cataclysm, and therefore could fetch them a pretty penny. Miguel searched the pockets of the skeleton in the back and found a set of keys. He tossed them to Carlos, who slid the starter key into the ignition while Miguel stuffed the skeleton into a canvas sack.  
Carter, Amy, and the others searched the other cars in the garage to see if any of them could work. It was no luck, they were all civilian autos, and ran on fossil fuels, which had evaporated out of their tanks a long time ago.  
Carlos turned the key in the ignition. There was a loud hum rising from the engine; then nothing as the engine died. Carlos swore to himself quietly. Miguel stood and watched the engine in nervous anticipation. None of them really wanted to walk anywhere in this 100 degree weather. He hoped to God that the 300-year-old military truck would start.  
Almost as a testament to the technological marvels of the Golden Age of Mankind, when Carlos turned the key again, the engine roared to life. It sputtered briefly, but had no problem running. Carter came over and patted Carlos on the back proudly.  
"Hell yeah, Carlos!", he said, climbing into the passenger seat, "All aboard! We're getting the fuck out of here!"  
The truck emerged from the doorway leading into Ft Rice. As they drove away from it, they could all see that the door frame was built into the side of a huge rock, at the bottom of a canyon. Ahead of them was a broken trail. The paved road had blown away a long time ago, and only bits of it remained. The trail was a steady incline that took them back up to the ground level. They headed due east, back to the battle site they had left hours ago.  
After the Great Cataclysm, humanities' great cities of steel and concrete crumbled. In many places, the forests that once covered the earth grew back to reclaim the land they lost. However, as it were in the deserts of the American West, things were relatively unchanged. There was simply not much for nature to take back. Humanities' influence was not quite as strong, and even though all the great cities of the west did fall, the lack of wildlife and the airid climate helped to preserve the area. Therefore, when Amy watched the world go by in the back of the transport vehicle, she did not think it odd that it was absent of life. It had been absent of life when she was last under the Texas sun. Actually, It was a rather sunny and lovely day.  
'Maybe a bit too warm for December, but that's Texas for you.', she thought to herself. Amy decided to sit back and enjoy the afternoon. The fresh air felt so good to her undernourished lungs, and the sun was a much better alternative to the fluorescent lights she had become used to. She turned to Danny, who sat beside her, and asked him where they were headed.  
"I don't know myself, Amy.", Danny responded, "Carter's the man, I assume only he knows. But don't worry, we'll take care of you."  
In the front seat next to Carlos, Carter brooded heavily. He suddenly realized there was no going back with Amy. She was in the world to stay, and now he had to deal with it. He briefly wondered if releasing her had been a mistake. In addition, they had left the front door wide open when they left. Now any monster or god-knows-what could walk into Ft Rice through a door that it had previously found to be closed. Carter knew that the rest of the sleepers would have to be dealt with, one way or another. However, this would be best to be dealt with later. More than anything, Carter wanted a beer, a cigarette, and a soft belly to lie his head on...preferable Jackie's.  
Carter shook the last thought out of his head. It had just popped in there. He couldn't possibly still love Jackie, could he? Hell, he almost married someone else......the whole reason he was in the desert now and not living the good life in El Paso was because he loved a different woman. Monica. Carter still loved Monica, right? Oh, it was all so confusing to him!  
"There it is, Carter.", said Carlos. He pointed directly ahead.  
For the moment, Carter put his women troubles in his back pocket and stared out to where Carlos was pointing.  
"Think there's anybody there?", Carlos asked.  
"I doubt it.....but I have a bad feeling about this." Carter sighed and pulled the magnum out of his shoulder holster. "Pull over. I'm gonna get Alice to scan the area and see if there's any trouble. Last thing I need right now is Jackie coming back with more troops."  
The truck slowed down to a stop, while it was still far enough away from the battle site so that they could get away if they needed to. Carter hopped down and got in the back of the truck.  
"Hey, guys, how is everybody?", he asked.  
"We're all fine, Carter-man.", Danny replied, "What's up?"  
"Alice, I need you to do me a favor.", said Carter, "How's your strength? You feeling okay?"  
"Getting better....why?"  
"Could you do a quick scan of the area to make sure we're the only ones here? Like maybe a half-mile radius from where we are?"  
"I could try.", said Alice. She closed her eyes and focused her attention to the life forces in the area requested. Alice could pick up on psychic signals sent out by living beings, and could determine whether or not they were human. It was kind of like tuning a radio. However, the signals Alice picked up on seemed like something from a horror movie.  
After a couple of minutes, Alice jumped out her trance. She looked nervous and pale. She was sweating, and breathing heavily.  
"Jesus, are you okay?", Amy asked, "What the hell did you just do?"  
"I saw something, Carter....two somethings.....so much evil."  
"Where?"  
"Right in front of us....not far......I don't know what they were, but the evil hit me like a fist."  
"Shit....alright, Danny, Miguel, grab a gun. The rest of you stay here."  
Carter jumped down from the truck and knocked on the driver door to get Carlos' attention. "Carlos! Come on, amigo! Get a gun!"  
The four of them walked side-by-side, weapons held lazily in their hands or propped up on their shoulders. "Alice says there's something over this way. Something bad."  
"Finally!", Danny shouted excitedly, "Some action!"  
The four men, watched by Alice, Irwin, and especially Amy, came up to the charred remains of the battle they fought against Jackie and her Dead-Boys. The smoldering ruins of SAMAS armor still lay on the ground, the looks of absolute horror forever frozen on the blackened faces of the soldiers. The boulders where they found the metal grate was nothing more than a smoking pile of rocks, piled high.. It was no wonder they couldn't move the grate from inside the air shaft. Their dune buggies, and most of their equipment was metal slag, devastated by the fusion block Jackie left them as a parting gift.  
In the center of the mess was the burnt, mangled corpse of the mutant Carter had been hired to retrieve. Two large creatures were feeding on its remains.  
"Oh Jesus.", Danny whispered to himself.  
"Devil Unicorns!", Miguel agreed.  
The 'Devil Unicorns', as Miguel put it, are really neither. While in fact their authenticity as 'true' demons is a topic for debate, any reference to unicorns, which are creatures of peace and beauty, is grossly facetious. Devil Unicorns resemble large orange- colored cockroaches the size of a car. Their bodies are grotesque and thickly-muscled. Their faces are humanoid, but only slightly, with no nose, lips or ears, but rows of sharp teeth and two frontal eyes. Spiked mandibles jut out from their jaws to help rend meat and shovel it into their mouths. Protruding straight up from their forehead is an enormous spike. The monsters are intelligent and purely evil. They delight in tormenting less powerful beings.  
Carter was going to signal to his team to open fire on the monsters, when he heard Amy come up behind him.  
"Shit, Amy, I told you to stay in the fucking truck!", he said, trying not to alert the Devils.  
"I wanted to see what was going on...I saw a lot of smoke and rocks and wondered where the road was and.....Oh My God!!"  
Amy screamed when she saw the Devil Unicorns snap at each other for the last piece of meat on the mutant's carcass. Immediately, they turned their evil heads and glared at Amy and the four men. The Devils' eyes glowed bright red. They turned around slowly, noxious fumes leaking out of their mouths, blood and ropes of flesh falling from between their teeth and hitting the sand.  
Danny, Carlos, and Miguel all pointed their weapons out in front of them. Carter swore. Amy stood, frozen. She wanted to run, but her feet were suddenly encased in concrete.  
One of the Devil Unicorns stepped forward and stomped his clawed foot into the earth. The ground trembled and dust rose up. He opened his mouth wide, and a single, audible word could clearly be understood from the rumble in his throat. "DIE!!", the monster bellowed.  
In retaliation, Carter, Danny, Miguel, and Carlos all opened up with their weapons on the monsters, screaming as loud as they could. Their voices, as well as the roars of pain and anger from the monsters, could not be heard from the fire of the weapons. Brilliant flashes of light shot from their energy rifles and slammed into their targets, doing little but pissing the Devils off.  
The enraged Devil Unicorns charged at their attackers, shrugging off the blasts of energy. Carter and his men scattered from the Devils. Danny, easily the quickest of the group, whirled back around and unleashed another barrage of fire from his plasma cannon. He hit one of the monsters in the front leg with a hard shot, and blew the monster's leg off from the knee down. The Devil rolled onto its back from the impact and screamed in agony.  
While Danny the Juicer was the quickest among the men, Carlos was the slowest. He managed to avoid the Devil Unicorns' charge, but the monster not shot by Danny snapped at his heel and just managed to catch Carlos' foot in his mouth. Carlos hit the dirt, his footing taken out from underneath him. Unable to brace himself for the impact, the fall took Carlos' breath from his lungs, and he was momentarily stunned.  
Thirsty for revenge and blood, the Devil yanked on Carlos' foot. Carlos yelped from fear and pain as he was dragged over to the Devil. He desperately clawed his hands into the dirt, trying to find his lost laser rifle.  
"What the hell are those things, Carter?!", Amy cried.  
"Fucking monsters!", Carter yelled, swearing at the Devil unicorns and answering Amy at the same time. He left Amy's side and ran to the monster on top of a panicking Carlos, firing his laser rifle wildly.  
His rifle doing little to deter the beast from his plan to devour Carlos, Carter threw it away and leapt onto the back of the Devil Unicorn. Carter withdrew a large black knife from his boot and shoved it into the face of the Devil.  
"Fucking godless piece of shit!! Get the fuck off Carlos!!", Carter swore, loudly. The Devil Unicorn howled in pain, the dagger stuck into his face, just underneath his left eye. The monster bucked wildly, trying to shake Carter from his back. Black blood sprayed from the wound in revolting jets. Carter could do little but hug the spike jutting from the monster's head, trying not to be thrown off. Carlos rolled out from underneath the crazed monster, covered in its thick, oily blood.  
Danny and Miguel had been distracted, executing the other, crippled Devil. The hurried over to where Carter was wrestling with the monster.  
"Yeeehaw!!", Danny cheered, "Ride that ugly fucker, Carter!!"  
"Hey, Danny, I think the boss needs our help.", Miguel said.  
"Well, we can't shoot it or we might hit Carter.", said Danny, "What do you suggest, bud?"  
"Shit, I don't know! But we gotta do something or that monster will tear the boss apart!"  
"Hey, I got it. We'll get Alice to put it to sleep or something."  
Danny reached to his side and grabbed his short-wave radio. He told Alice that they needed her help immediately. Moments later, Alice was next to Danny and Miguel. The monster had not tired at all, but Carter could barely hold on. His grip was slowly slipping away.  
"Jesus, Danny, I can't fight that thing!", Alice said.  
"C'mon, you gotta do something!"  
"Uh.....okay...let me try..."  
Alice focused her mind on the monster. She materialized what little magical energy she had left and pushed it at the monster. Danny and Miguel could feel their hair become static from the energy she was releasing. Alice spread her arms apart like she was awaiting a hug, then quickly brought them together, clapping her hands together.  
The resulting sound was more like the boom of thunder than the clap of a woman's hands. Danny and Miguel covered their ears from the loud sound, which rang in their ears. Amy covered her head with her arms and crouched in the dust. This was beginning to get too weird for her.  
The explosive thunderclap produced by Alice momentarily startled the Devil Unicorn. The monster ceased its thrashing and turned its evil blood-soaked eyes to Alice. The monster sneered. Carter, relieved that the monster stopped, climbed down off its back and scooted over to Amy and Carlos, trying to catch his breath and stop his head from spinning.  
The Devil Unicorn recognized Alice as a powerful sorcerer. Her flesh and magic energy would be decidedly delicious to it. The monster briefly fantasized about dragging her crippled frame back to its lair where it would rape and torture her for weeks before finally killing her. It would revel in every moment. Alice was able to pick up on this fantasy, emanating strongly from the monster. The very thought chilled her, but caused a rage inside her to boil. This demonic fucking fiend wanted to completely destroy her as it had done to so many others. It was a waste of space, a mistake that had slipped through God's grand scheme. It was a monster, pure and simple. Alice would not allow such a being to exist.  
Alice's eyes glowed a bright blue. Her hands motioned about her slowly as she mustered up enough strength to wipe the monster from the face of the earth. The Devil Unicorn sensed this, and roared at her defiantly. It scratched its huge clawed feet into the dirt. Steam puffed through its nostrils. It began to charge her.  
Alice put her hand forward and pointed to the charging beast. At the tip of her finger glowed a ball of the purest white light. Suddenly, as the monster was a mere two or three feet from Alice, and preparing to leap on her, a beam of concentrated white energy shot forth from her finger and smashed into the Devil Unicorn. The light was so bright, everyone had to look away or it would blind them.  
The Devil Unicorn's scream of incredible pain was cut short as its head and shoulders exploded, sending bits and chunks of foul meat all over the place. The carcass of the dead monster was thrown back nearly 50 feet, over the heads of Amy, Carter, and Carlos, and slammed into the pile of rocks.  
Everyone broke out into cheers for Alice, who was now feeling very light-headed and having trouble balancing herself. Danny picked her up and swung her around.  
"Alice, baby, that was in-fucking-CREDible!", the joyous Juicer said. He put her down and kissed her loudly on the cheek. "Will you marry me?", he said.  
Alice laughed weakly at Danny, amused at his antics. "Thanks, Danny."  
"Damn, Alice, I had no idea you could do that!", praised Miguel, "All I ever see you do is little parlor tricks and shit, but damn, that was some power!! What else you have in that little bag of tricks, eh?"  
"Thanks, guys, really, but I'm just doing what I get paid for.", Alice said modestly.  
"Hey, what happened, guys, I heard an explosion!", Irwin said. He had come over when no one noticed.  
"Your gorgeous sister here just saved my ass.", said Carter.  
While everyone fawned over Alice for her unexpected display of power, Amy sat in the sand, staring at the corpse of the monster that had been blown apart. She couldn't take her eyes off it, and nervously picked at a small weed in the ground. She was so terribly confused, almost to the point of panicking herself into a nervous breakdown. She felt like she was on another world. More than anything, Amy wanted to see a city. She saw plenty of Ft. Rice, so she knew she had to be on earth, but she needed to see signs of civilization. No more laser guns. No more smelly guys dressed like cowboys or militia men. No more monsters! No more weirdness!!  
Amy rode up front in the truck, between Carlos and Carter. Carter had noticed that she had become very quiet since their fight with the Devil Unicorns. She just sat in the dirt, staring off into space, even as the others rummaged through their burned-out dune buggies for weapons and supplies. Danny even offered her some beef jerky and warm beer, but she quietly refused, shaking her head 'no', slowly, like in a trance.  
Carter knew it was a lot for Amy to handle. He wished she had not seen them attack the Devil Unicorns. God only knew what was going through her mind. Carter sat, trying to think of a way to put her more at ease.  
"Amy.....um...look, those things back there....."  
"You're not going to tell me what they are, are you.", Amy interrupted.  
"They're called 'Devil Unicorns'."  
"Thanks. That tells me a lot."  
"Look, I know you deserve an explanation."  
"You're damn right I deserve an explanation!", Amy said. It was the first thing she said in an hour with any emotion. "Like for starters, where the fuck are we going?!"  
"We are going to a small town. Its only about another hour away. We'll get something to eat. And when we do, I'll tell you everything."  
"'Everything'? I take it there's a lot to hear?"  
"Oh, you have no idea."  
The remaining hour of the trip was spent in silence. Carlos was a quiet man, and enjoyed his silence, but the tension building up in Amy was becoming thick. He suddenly wished the truck had a working radio. Music would relieve the tension, and at least it would give them something else to listen to except the silent hum of the engine. It was a moot point anyway, because there was no radio station powerful enough to broadcast out this far for hundreds of miles.  
Finally, the truck reached the town Carter spoke of. It looked to Amy like something out of a Western movie. The buildings were wooden and all lined up along a dirt road. People strode down the wooden sidewalks dressed like cowboys or distinguished men and women of the old west. Amy had once been to a wild west recreation park; one of those places where they stage gunfights every hour, and have live can-can shows, but that was nothing like this. Some of these people even had metal arms or rode shiny metal horses. The strangest folks of all were the guys who dressed like cowboys and acted like cowboys, but were wearing what Amy supposed were rubber latex masks of monsters.  
In all sorts of strange colors and shapes were the costumed people. It reminded Amy of the old science-fiction movies she watched.  
"This is the town?", Amy asked.  
"Yep. Not much, I know. I hate it here. These people are mostly bankers, so they're all pretty fucking self-righteous and pompous. "  
Then why'd we come here? Couldn't we have gone to Abilene? I know its not that far from Ft Rice."  
"This place is just closer. Anyway, we'll be safe here. Bankers need a lot of protection these days, so the whole town is full of mercenaries, paid big bucks to make sure the fat cats stay safe." To be totally honest, Carter had never heard of Abilene. It didn't even register on his mental list of ruined pre-rifts cities like Dallas or San Antonio. He assumed it must have been one of the hundreds of cities that rotted away to nothing during the 'dark ages'. In any case, Carter's real purpose in going to this town was to hide from Jackie. Carter knew Jackie very well, and knew that there would be an investigation, and she would find him.  
Suddenly, the idea of allowing Jackie to find him entered Carter's mind. Maybe all she really wanted was for the two of them to be together again. They were, after all, each other's first loves. Maybe.....no. Carter threw the concept from his head. Jackie was dangerous! Jackie wanted to destroy Carter, and if she found Amy, she would certainly kill her too!  
"Okay, guys, you're all off-duty for the next couple hours.", Carter told his team, "We're not gonna worry about our weapons or our money or anything else until tomorrow. And this town is one of the safest places in the West, so its okay to relax and let your guards down. I'm calling a meeting for tomorrow morning, however. I think there's only one hotel in this place, so we'll all be staying there. The meeting is tomorrow at 10 am in the hotel lobby. In the mean time, have fun and drink hard."  
At that, Carter's team dispersed to go their own ways. Irwin and Alice went to the hotel to get themselves checked in. Alice was absolutely exhausted and needed to sleep before she collapsed again. Miguel, Carlos, and Danny headed in the opposite direction, bound for the dirtiest, sleaziest saloon they could find. Carter and Amy walked over to a restaurant on the corner.  
The inside of the restaurant was shaped more like a diner than a western saloon. There was a small bar, lined with stools, and booths sat up and down the wall. The windows were very tall, reaching from the tables up to the ceiling. Above every table dangled a small electric lamp, hung by a pole. The floor was an old dirty tile. Advertisements that looked very very old dotted the white wooden walls. Although the signs and posters looked old enough to belong to her great-grandfather, they were for products and companies that Amy had never heard of, such as 'Northern Gun', and 'Golden-Age Weaponsmiths'. Amy laughed to herself when she saw a ridiculous poster of a painted wizard wearing an outlandish blue robe and a big red devil-person, both standing over a bubbling cauldron. The wizard held his hands above his head and his fingers splayed evilly, as if he was controlling a marionette who's strings were a bit too long. The devil-person stirred the cauldron with a large spoon, his forked tongue licking his red lips. Above the characters were the words, in captivating white letters, 'WE EAT HUMAN BABIES!!'. That alone was enough to make Amy laugh. Underneath the characters, in smaller white text were the words 'Remember: Sorcerers and D-Bees are EVIL! Protect your family! Invest in CS War Bonds today!' Amy assumed it was a poster for a movie or a play or something. It reminded her of propaganda posters she had seen in history books from the second World War.  
Carter and Amy sat in a booth in the corner, away from the other patrons of the diner. A waitress came over to their seat wearing a half-apron and a dirty T-shirt that had the words "Behead Prosek" printed on it.  
"We only take credits here. You folks got credits?", she said.  
"Yes we do, ma'am.", Carter replied.  
"Okay then, what can I get you folks?", the waitress asked.  
"I don't know; do you have a menu?", asked Amy.  
Aggravated, the waitress sighed. "Just name somethin', darlin', and I'm sure we can cook it up for ya."  
"Uh....chicken sandwich and a glass of ice water."  
"And fer you, cowboy?", she asked Carter.  
"What kind of beer you got?"  
"All we got is Coalition brand."  
Carter grimaced. Coalition beer tasted like warm piss. "Bring me a bottle of bourbon and a glass with ice in it, ma'am."  
The waitress smiled and took down their orders. She walked back into the kitchen.  
"Finally!", Amy said happily, "Oh, I'm so hungry. I guess sleeping for two weeks straight can really take it out of you."  
"Yeah....two weeks....", Carter mumbled nervously.  
"Mr. Carter, are you going to tell me what's going on now? You going to tell me why I'm in a diner in a town that looks like its from a movie with you and your weird friends instead of back at Ft Rice with my family and a check for ten thousand dollars?"  
"Yeah.....", Carter sighed, "Yeah, I guess I'd better. But I can tell ya now, you aint gonna like it."  
"I'll keep an open mind."  
"Okay.....Amy, what was the date that Project Winter began? The day they put you to sleep."  
"It was the 17th. December 17th."  
"What year?"  
"This year. 2098. Why?"  
Carter wiped his forehead nervously. "Today's date is February 15th.......uh....i believe the year is 2389, give or take a year."  
Carter watched Amy's face for a reaction. She simply stared back, her face a mixture of disbelief and confusion.  
"So, what are you saying?", she asked calmly, "That I've been sleeping underground for like....300 years?"  
Carter nodded. "Yeah.....that's what I'm saying."  
Amy's eyes moved away from Carter's gaze. She watched a brown lizard scurry up the wall, and suddenly wished she were somewhere else. She was beginning to have a bad day.  
"You don't believe me, do you.", Carter said, rhetorically.  
"I....I don't know. It is a bit hard to swallow. How could this have happened? Did they lie to us?"  
"No, Amy, something happened to the world while you were asleep. Something .... uh .... profound."  
"Yeah, no shit. How do you explain those things you killed? And what Alice did?"  
"Amy...some time before you went to sleep, the world wasn't such a great place, was it?"  
"In what sense? I was doing okay, personally. I had a job, a family..."  
  
"I mean...the whole world. Was there a war going on?"  
"Not really, but some people were talking war. Nobody really wanted it, but it was like this race between all the biggest countries to see who could build the biggest and baddest armies. And I remember right before Project Winter started, some shit down in South America we did really had some of the other countries pissed off. I didn't catch the news report, but; you're right, things were starting to get really bad."  
"You believe in magic, Amy?"  
Amy's face contorted in confusion and frustration, just as the waitress came back with her water and Carter's bourbon.  
"What the hell kind of question is that? I thought you were going to explain everything to me! All you're doing is asking me about politics and bullshit and telling me that I've been asleep for three hundred years like I'm Rip Van fucking Winkle!" Amy's angry voice started to rise as she spoke.  
"Hey, keep your fucking voice down.", Carter said quietly and sternly, "I AM explaining everything to you. It's complicated. There are some things you need to understand."  
Carter poured some bourbon into his glass and took a drink. Amy wanted to order some liquor, but wondered if they would accept her 300- year-old driver's license.  
"Okay.", Amy said, quieter and trying to keep an open mind, "Tell me your story."  
"I take it you don't believe in magic.", Carter continued, "And I'll bet no one in your time did."  
"That's right. Of course not. Well, except for weirdoes and hippies with crystals and shit like that."  
"Well, I'm gonna tell you right now, Amy. It's real. That shit you saw Alice do? Magic. Alice has made the study and manipulation of magic her life's work. Those monsters we killed? Creatures of magic. Supernatural motherfuckers brought to Earth by the high levels of magic energy that sustain our world. Y'see, magic is a force of nature....a source of energy that sunk to levels too low to notice in your time. It surrounds us, permeates us, holds the universe together, and occasionally tears it apart."  
"You're serious about this, Carter?"  
"I'm just telling you the facts. You ask any reasonably educated person if I'm lying and they'll tell you the same thing I am."  
"It's just a little hard to believe, that's all."  
"I can only imagine what you must be thinking, Amy."  
Amy smiled. She decided to humor Carter for awhile. He was an interesting storyteller. "Okay, so where does this 'magic energy' come from? And why didn't anyone in my time have this knowledge that you do? Why didn't we use it if it was 'all around us'?"  
"Well, the reason nobody used it is quite obvious, Amy. Because nobody believed in it. But that, of course, doesn't mean it's not there. It was sitting, building itself up for centuries, waiting for someone to tap into it. As for where it comes from....it's just a fundamental part of nature. It exists inside each and every living being. When we die, that energy is released and sent back to the planet. The planet in turn uses it to make other living beings."  
"Wow, that's interesting, Carter. Where did you learn this?"  
"My grandmother, actually. She used to tell me stories about the sights she saw that magic produced. She told me how beautiful the energy is at night when you can see it stretch across the sky in rivers of blue light. She told me how it worked, and how it destroyed the world. Of course, my father hated that she taught me and forbid me to ever learn...."  
"Destroyed the world?", Amy interrupted.  
"Yeah....I was just getting up to that part." Carter took another drink from his glass and emptied the bourbon from it. He poured more from the bottle. "Now, I only know what my grandma told me, but she got her information from a very reliable source; or so she said. So this story might not be exactly how it was, but from what I've heard, it's as accurate as it's gonna get.  
A couple days after you went to sleep, there was a war. Those countries that were angry at each other....someone launched nuclear missiles at someone else.....the other guys retaliated. Soon, everybody was launching missiles at everybody else. The missiles all hit their targets at around the same time, and millions of people died, all at once. Their magic energy...their life forces washed into the planet in a tidal wave, and something happened.  
Nobody really knows why; maybe there was an eclipse, maybe the planets were all lined up right, maybe God was just plum pissed off at us blowin' the earth to smithereens, but the planet.....exploded." Amy's eyes got wider and wider as the story progressed. She didn't even pay attention when she got her chicken sandwich and the waitress sauntered off, sighing about it being wrong to 'be tellin' kids them horror stories about how things used to be'. Amy didn't know if she could believe Carter, but something in his eyes...something about how he talked told her that he was telling the truth.  
"From what I hear, it was like the planet lost its mind. Earthquakes, volcanoes, tidal waves, hurricanes, storms more powerful than had ever been recorded tore across the planet. Waves of pure magic energy devastated the cities and leveled landscapes. Millions more died every hour, their energy only feeding the storm and enraging it further. The world shuddered.  
And then, there were the rifts. Tears in the fabric of reality itself. Gateways into other worlds. The rifts opened everywhere, spilling forth creatures who were only too willing to add to the slaughter. The chaos on earth sent shockwaves throughout the universe. Monsters and demons felt it, and were attracted by it. They wanted to be a part of it all. They came to Earth through their own rifts and feasted on us all. That chaos lasted only a couple of months.....eventually the earth calmed down a bit, and when the dust settled, mankind realized its numbers were reduced from billions to only a couple thousand worldwide. We had been the masters of our earth for thousands of years, but now we were pushed nearly to the brink of extinction. The people who survived the Coming of the Rifts had to contend with a forever changed planet. Vile demonic monsters roamed the land and brought with them their pestilence and evil. For about two hundred years, mankind experienced what we call today the New Dark Ages. It was a time of uncertainty for our survival.  
Through it all, humans persevered. We rebuilt. The survivors came together and made governments. The old factories and weapon storages were unearthed, and we fought to take back our world. The Coalition States were formed, covering almost a fourth of what was once the United States and a bit of Canada. The Coalition States promised hope to all of mankind, but at a price. The States declared that anything not human was evil. Some of the creatures who had ended up on earth over the years were not evil or terrible monsters, they were just lost, or fleeing an evil from their own world. But the people were scared, and needed answers. The Coalition gave it to them in the form of nazi-like militarism. Even today, in the year 103 on the post-apocalyptic calendar, the Coalition States are THE power in North America. Hell, as far as I know, there really isn't anyone else. I've heard stories about a place in Europe called the New German Republic, but from what I hear, they ain't got nothing like the States."  
Amy reached across the table and grabbed the bottle of bourbon. Amy wrapped her lips around the neck of the bottle and chugged the bourbon straight for all she was worth. It proved to be too much for her and the bottled emptied onto her face, chest, and lap, as she coughed and hacked and finally vomited on the floor of the diner.  
"Jesus, Amy!", Carter cried.  
"'JESUS AMY'?!!", Amy screamed, "You just told me the WHOLE FUCKING WORLD ENDED, and you say 'Jesus Amy'?!"  
Amy then took the bourbon bottle and threw it across the diner. It slammed into a wall and broke into a hundred pieces.  
"Well fuck YOU, Carter!! Why did you wake me up?! Why did you fucking do this to me?!"  
"Hold it right there, ma'am.", said a man standing in the doorway to the kitchen. It was the cook. He had a double-barreled shotgun pointed at Amy. "Y'all better get the hell outta my diner. I run a respectable place here."  
Carter sprung from his seat and held his hands out, trying to calm the cook. "I'm sorry sir, my sister here is not quite right....poor girl was born that way; she gets a little freaked out sometimes."  
"I ain't your goddamned sister, Carter! Why don't you tell them all where I'm really from?! Like I'm some kind of archaeological artifact!!"  
"Get her out of here. I ain't foolin' with you, boy.", said the cook.  
Carter obliged, grabbing Amy fiercely by her shirt collar and dragging her out of the diner. Once outside, Carter threw Amy into the dirt.  
"What the fuck was that?!", Carter yelled angrily.  
Amy kneeled in the dirt, crying. "Tell me you're lying, Carter! Tell me what you said isn't true! Please!!" For the first time in her 23 years of life, Amy felt completely helpless and totally alone. The sun on her back felt like ice. The liquor covering her body didn't matter to her. The dirt beneath her didn't matter to her. The people walking buy, staring and remarking 'what's wrong with that poor girl' didn't matter. To Amy Melvin, nothing mattered anymore. Everything she loved and everything she knew was gone now. The rules that made up her life had been broken, and she had not been told. She was supposed to be dead, with her husband and daughter now. She had cheated death for 300 years, and the price was too much for her to bear..  
"It's not a lie, Amy. It's just the way it is."  
"Why did this happen, Carter?! Why did this happen?"  
"I .....I don't have an answer to that, Amy. I don't know why."  
"Well, why did it happen to me?!", Amy screamed at Carter through her tears, "Why did you let me out?! Why now? Why didn't you let us all out sooner?!"  
"We didn't know, Amy! Me and the guys just now found you earlier today! Nobody knew about you! The whole place was hidden underground! It was top-secret, and anyone who would have known was dead.......I'm sorry Amy."  
"Yeah, you're sorry.", Amy sobbed coldly, "This is not fair. My life was not supposed to end this way." Amy stood up and looked around her. The sun was going down. She looked into its rays. She suddenly wished she was somewhere else; anywhere else. The desire to be looking at the sundown from another place and time was so overpowering she would have traded the very air she breathed. More than anything, Amy wanted to go home.  
"There's more, Amy.", said Carter.  
"More?! What more could you possibly tell me? Am I dying of cancer?" Amy sighed. She felt very weak. "Carter....i don't want you to tell me anything right now. I want to be alone. You can't imagine how this makes me feel, Carter. And the fact that no one person was responsible makes it worse.....it was all just an accident. My whole life is just one big fucking mistake."  
Carter did know how she felt. Carter remembered when he was only 18 years old, the village he lived in was burned to the ground by an army of vampires. He recalled how he felt when he woke up the next morning and finally realized that everything he cherished had been destroyed. It was the single most devastating moment in Carter's young life. But Amy wouldn't understand that. He decided it would be best to let Amy be alone for a while.  
"C'mon, Amy, I'll take you to the hotel."  
Amy quietly obliged.  
  
Amy sat alone in her tiny hotel room. She stared out the window into the world, feeling lonely and helpless. She missed her husband Jason and her daughter Jenna. She couldn't bear to think that they had witnessed the end of everything. She didn't want to think about the pain they felt as they watched their home crumble around them. Amy briefly wondered how long they survived. She touched the key against her chest. It was all she had left of her family. She was glad she had forgotten to give it to Jenna.  
Outside, Amy saw two men planting wooden crosses into the ground. Every ten feet or so, one of the men would take a cross, crudely fashioned out of two sticks and rope, and the other would hammer it into the ground. It appeared to Amy that they were surrounding the town with crosses; for what reason, Amy couldn't imagine. She tried to open the window to ask the men, but it was sealed tightly all the way around. It was completely airtight. Amy found it odd, but quickly lost interest. It was a moot point anyway.  
Amy turned and sank into her bed. She started to cry softly. She didn't want to believe Carter. She wanted so badly for him to be wrong. However, the signs pointed elsewhere. All the things she had seen in the few hours since she awoke simply confirmed what Carter told her. The monsters, the magic, it was all here. It was like something out of some goddamned movie, but it was all here, standing right in front of her.  
'And the worst part is,' Amy thought to herself as her tears carried her off to sleep, 'I just know things are going to get a lot worse.'  
  
The next morning, Carter and his team, sans Carlos who had gone to pick up breakfast, were gathered in the hotel lobby. Carter had paid off the owner of the hotel to make sure no one interrupted them, so Carter could speak freely. He didn't want the world to know about Amy and the sleepers. Not yet.  
"Okay, guys, first order of business is our recent track record. I know we haven't been doing too well as of late. We've all been kinda distracted. First, there was that Psi-Stalker we were after who blew himself up to avoid capture....that was sloppy of us. We invested a lot of time and power into his apprehension, and we got nothing.  
After that guy, there was that skirmish against Splugorth Slavers. That went very badly. We were lucky that their ship was attacked by sea serpents, otherwise we'd be turning tricks in Atlantis right now. In addition, the village we were supposed to protect was destroyed, so we got nothing.  
Then, of course, most recently was the little girl we caught who turned out to be some horrible mutant. Although that was not our fault, it leads me to believe we need to do more extensive background checks of our clients. If I had known the man who hired us was Dr. Desmond Bradford, I wouldn't have taken the job. However, I would like to mention that we fought very well against the Coalition yesterday. I saw teamwork and dedication that has been missing lately."  
"Well, it's a bit different when you're fighting for your life, boss.", Miguel spoke up. "Yeah, that's true; we didn't get paid to fight those SAMs, Carter. Those guys meant business.", Danny concurred.  
"Hey, I bet it was fine with him as long as he got to see his little mamacita again, eh?", Miguel joked with Danny. Danny snickered, agreeingly.  
"Anyway, as I was saying.", Carter continued, "We did rather well, considering we were outgunned and out numbered. We need to kick ass more like we did then."  
"And that leads me to our discovery after the battle. We uncovered an enormous underground base from before the rifts. And not only that, we found people from before the rifts. These are not D-Bees or time-travelers, these sleepers are the genuine article. As far as I know, we are the only ones who know of their existence. Therefore, I believe we have an obligation to them. I called this meeting to decide what to do with the sleepers."  
"What are our options?", Danny asked.  
"Well, we can let them out, or let them rot."  
"I don't like the idea of letting them rot.", Irwin spoke up, "Even though the technology is advanced, it's not perfect. Something could malfunction, and there would be no one there to fix it. Frankly, I think it's a miracle that they've survived three hundred years."  
"Okay, good points, Irwin. I agree with him. I think we should let them out. I mean, it's not going to get any better for them. The world is not going to fix itself."  
"Yeah, its not their fault they're in this position.", Danny said, "They should be allowed to live out their lives."  
"No, their lives ended three hundred years ago!", Alice said, "These people don't know anything about the world now. We can't possibly prepare them for the shock."  
"That is true.", said Carter, "Amy reacted violently when I told her the truth. She's not taking it very well at all. Some of the others' reactions will probably be worse."  
"Where is Amy anyway?", Danny asked.  
"With Carlos."  
"Another thing, what if someone else finds that place? They might not be as nice as we are. They might eat everyone!", Miguel said.  
"A very good point, Miguel.", said Carter, "Which is why we have to do something quick. The last thing I want is for the Coalition to find that place."  
"No, wait a second, that's a good idea.", Alice said, "The Coalition is far better capable of helping those people than we are. The Coalition could provide them with food and shelter."  
"No fucking way, girl!", Danny said, "Those people wouldn't be cared for, they'd be experimented on! That's like delivering the lambs right into the lion's mouth!"  
"Hey, I got an idea. What if we just go and put them out of their misery, y'know?", Miguel suggested, pointing his finger at his head like a gun. "That way they'll never learn about the cataclysm, and we wont have to worry about who's eating them."  
"Miguel, dude, that's sick!", said Danny.  
"You're talking mass murder!", Irwin said.  
"No, that's not even an option.", said Carter, "Neither is the Coalition. It seems to me we're all voting to let them out. What we do with them afterwards.....i have no idea."  
"Hey, not everyone's voted.", said Alice, "Shouldn't Carlos have been back by now?"  
"Yeah, good point, baby.", Miguel agreed, "Where is the big man?" As if to answer Miguel's question, Carlos came flying in through the door. The wooden door broke in half from the impact. Carlos fell in a bloody mess on the floor. Everyone jumped to their feet. Carter and Danny pulled out pistols from their holsters.  
"Holy Shit, Carlos is dead!!", Danny yelled.  
It was true. Carlos' body had been torn to ribbons; shredded. A dark pool of his blood gathered on the floor surrounding him. In anger, Danny bounded out the door, swearing loudly. Carter followed, with everyone else after him.  
Jackie stood in the middle of the street, a line of Coalition Skelebots behind her. Twenty skeleton-shaped robots stood, their weapons poised and ready. In front of Jackie was Amy. Jackie held Amy in a headlock, with a laser pistol aimed at the terrified girl's neck. Amy stood still, but could not help from crying.  
"Jackie!!", gasped Carter.  
"Hey, that bitch has got Amy!", Danny yelled, taking aim with his own pistol. When he raised his gun, the skelebots all brought their guns up to eye level. Twenty different red lights focused on Danny's chest as the robots turned on their targeting lasers.  
"No, Danny, don't shoot!", Carter ordered.  
"Carter, she killed Carlos and she's gonna kill Amy!!", Danny yelled back, not moving his gun an inch. Through his targeting scope on top of the pistol, Danny could see Jackie's cold face. She seemed to look right into him back through the scope.  
"Drop your weapon, juicer!", Jackie yelled to Danny, "Nobody moves and nobody else has to die."  
"You're lying! You'll kill us all anyway!", Danny screamed.  
"Maybe....maybe not.", Jackie said, quieter and more conversational, "But if you all don't surrender now, you'll never know."  
"Put the gun down, Danny.", Carter said, "I'm ordering you."  
Danny did as he was told, and gave Carter a scowling glance.  
Jackie threw Amy from her grasp. The frightened girl ran over to Carter.  
"What are you doing here, Jackie?", Carter said.  
"I am here to place you all under arrest for crimes against the Coalition States."  
"No fucking way, bitch.", Danny said angrily.  
"Jackie, you don't have to do this. I know you're angry with me, but you don't have to...", Carter started to say.  
"BULLSHIT! That's bullshit, Carter!! You know NOTHING about me!!", Jackie screamed, "You have no idea what's in my head! You don't know what it's like to fight every day of your life; fight harder than anyone else; to give up everything else in your life, all for the sake of one goal."  
"Goal?"  
"You. I wanted to have you, Carter, and when I knew I couldn't have you, I knew I had to kill you. I worked so hard so we could be together, Carter. When you left me, I was lost. I didn't know what to do. So I worked. I worked harder than anyone else. I requested the deadliest field missions, in places far away from the states. I wanted to do recon in dangerous cities, hoping that I could find you."  
Jackie, her emotions getting the best of her, let her guard down and moved towards Carter. She spoke only to him; the skelebots and Carter's mercenary friends didn't matter. All she saw was Carter. All she felt was the ten years of pain he had caused her.  
"And then, one day, I did see you. In El Paso, a year after you left me. I saw you in the market there. You were with a girl. I didn't know who she was, but she held your hand! She held you like she loved you!! And you kissed her! You looked at her just like you used to look at me!! You kissed her just like you used to kiss me!! You betrayed me with her, Carter!! You betrayed me with your whores and desert trash girlfriends!! You have caused me so much pain, Carter, and now it's my turn. That's why I met you out in the desert yesterday. When Bradford told me who he had hired to bring back his precious experiment, I immediately volunteered to intercept you and arrest you for kidnapping."  
"Jackie.....you couldn't have seriously expected me to wait for you.....it had been a year...you were in the army...I was lucky to be alive, much less with another girl!"  
Jackie smashed Carter in the face with her pistol. Carter fell to the ground. It had felt like an explosion went off in his head. The world spun around him.  
Carter's team tensed up. Danny would have blown Jackie's head off if not for the skelebots who still had their targets on him. The air crackled with electricity as Alice's anger began to rise and take form again through her power. She kept it in check, knowing full well that attacking would mean all of their deaths.  
Miguel, unfortunately, was a bit more bull-headed than the others in his thinking. He charged Jackie and shoved his knee into her chest. The impact knocked Jackie back against a support post, but her armor protected her from an attack that might have otherwise broken a rib or two. Miguel, however, was unarmored, and was obliterated by the laser fire of the skelebot battalion.  
"No!! Miguel!!", Alice screamed. In anger, she spread out her hands and summoned forth a small spout of flame in between them. Soon, the spout grew into a ball of fire, larger than a basketball, hovering between her hands. Jackie saw Alice conjure her fireball and pointed her pistol at the enraged ley line walker.  
"Lose the fireworks, cunt, or you're next.", Jackie sneered.  
"Alice....don't.....listen to her, please.", Carter said, getting back to his feet.  
"That's right....'Alice'. Do as your lover says.", said Jackie.  
Stunned by Carter's unwillingness to fight and Jackie's comment, The fireball disappeared from Alice's hands in a puff of flame. "Carter, what are you talking about?.....she just killed Miguel! Any one of us could be next!! She's going to kill us, Carter!"  
"Shut up, whore!!", Jackie screamed at Alice, "You fucking freak! You devil-worshipper! Do you have any idea how many of your kind I've killed? If you don't shut your fucking mouth I'll kill you too; don't think I won't!"  
"Jackie, no...you don't have to kill anyone else. We'll go quietly.", Carter said weakly. Fighting Jackie had sapped his strength. He could not raise a hand against her, and knew it was because he still loved her. Even after the monster she had become, he still loved her. Carter felt defeated. He was too weak to do anything but surrender.  
Jackie smiled evilly to Carter. She knew she had him right where she wanted him, but things weren't over yet. She wanted to torture him; make him feel some of the pain she did.  
"Giving up so quickly, Carter? That's not like you. You used to be such a fighter."  
"You've already killed two of my men right in front of me. I don't want to watch my entire team die."  
"You are smarter, though. But I know you Carter. Inside that little brain of yours, you want to kill me. You're angry and scared. Unless that turns you on. Is that it? Maybe you like the position I've put you in. Maybe you like that you're afraid of me."  
Jackie put her lips to Carter's ear and whispered to him. "Maybe you just want to fuck me, Carter?"  
Carter whispered back. "I think I'd rather kill you." It was not a lie.  
Still smiling, Jackie put her gun into her holster. She knelt on the ground in front of Carter. "Then do it.", She whispered, "Take your gun and kill me."  
Carter couldn't. His revolver felt like it weighed fifty pounds. His sensible side was screaming to him 'Do it! Kill her! If you don't, you're all as good as dead! Remember Amy? You promised to protect her! You can't let her die like this, at the hands of this insane woman!' And he wanted to listen to that voice, he wanted to raise his pistol and put it to her forehead and shoot her beautiful face; but he couldn't. He couldn't because he still loved her.  
Jackie stood, smirking. She was delighted that she had belittled Carter. All her work, all the killings; they were not in vain. Finally, after so much time, after so much blood and sweat, she would have her revenge.  
  
Jackie arrested us, and ordered an armored escort. She trumped up all kinds of charges on all of us; murder, rape, extortion, terrorist activity, possession with intent to sell illegal contraband, conspiracy against the CS, the list went on and on. She knew we'd be executed for sure, and that's just what she wanted. To bust up our morale, she separated us. Alice and her brother Irwin were sent back east to God-knows-where, Danny and Amy were shipped off to a work camp at the edge of the Lone Star wilderness, where they would work till they dropped. And then there's me; I was confined to the military prison in Lone Star City.  
I festered in my cell for weeks. I was kept in the lower levels of the prison, where there was no sunlight, no human contact, and only stale bread to eat. I didn't even get a toilet, and had to sit in my own stink. It had to have been one of the most horrible experiences of my life. Coalition military prisons are designed that way; especially for those condemned to death. The break your spirit with hopelessness and isolation, and they break your body with disease and malnutrition. It makes you weak; just how they want you.  
Jackie came by every once in a while. I didn't know how often since I never saw the sun. She never talked; she just stood there, leaning against a wall, studying me like you would a caged animal or a revolting piece of art. Sometimes, she would torture me by eating an apple or other fruit in front of me, all the while staring at me with her cold eyes and emotionless face. We said nothing to each other. I sat in the corner, my head between my knees, looking up only occasionally to see if she was still there. Once when I looked up, she quickly turned away, and I almost though I saw a tear on her cheek.  
And then, one day, Jackie didn't come, but some other soldiers did. A priest was with them. I knew it was time for me. The orders for my execution had come through at last. They led me outside, where it was surprisingly cold. I was driven to the city square, where they always held public executions.  
The square was alive with excited people, all here to see another enemy of the state punished. Some were chanting 'Hail to Emperor Prosek, Hail to the CS'. It would have made me sick if I hadn't been so weak and punished from my time in prison. I almost welcomed death. I longed for an end to the pain. An end to the fighting. I didn't care if Jackie beat me; I didn't care that evil had triumphed over good. I didn't even care that I had broken my promise to protect Amy, and this would be the end of our family tree; I just wanted it all to end.  
I stood against the brick wall, which was broken and burnt and stained with the blood of the Coalition's enemies. As I gazed out onto the teeming, hungry, cold masses of Lone Star City, the sky darkened and it started to snow. Not too much, and it was not cold enough for it to stick to the ground, but there it was, snow.  
I found it odd that it would snow in March....in Lone Star. I chalked it up to one of those weird things that just happens every now and then in the world, and forgot about it. Still, the snow reminded me of the frost covering the inside of Amy's capsule. It reminded me of the promise I had made to her to protect her, and how I had failed. I was so sorry that this happened. I was so sorry that I had woken up Amy and brought her into my world. And now I would never get the chance to make it better.  
Amy was like no one I had ever met. She was so full of life. Her spirit was so strong; even when she learned about the Cataclysm. We were the last of our family. It hurt me to know that I would never see her again. It hurt even more to know that she would spend the rest of her life in a CS work camp.  
A soldier came and put a blindfold over my eyes. He asked me if I wanted a cigarette, and I accepted. The preacher said some words about salvation and redemption, then splashed holy water on me.  
"I have bad news.", whispered the soldier next to me.  
"What's that?", I asked him, not really caring what he would say.  
"You're not gonna die today.", he said.  
Underneath my blindfold, I gave him a puzzled look. "What are you talking about?", I asked him.  
"I'm talkin bout rescuing your dumb ass.", he whispered back. I recognized the voice.  
"Danny?!"  
"Yeah, Carter-man, Me and Amy are here to save your sorry life!"  
The preacher had finished his sermon, and turned to walk off stage. Suddenly, Danny, dressed as a Coalition Soldier, grabbed the priest and put a gun to his head.  
"Nobody move or the preacher gets it!!", Danny yelled. He yanked off my blindfold and cut my handcuffs with a large vibro-knife. I could now see what was happening.  
Danny had made quite a scene. He must've have balls the size of bricks to pull a stunt like this. The firing squad, confused, did not know whether to put their guns on me or (who they thought was) the soldier who rescued me. Soon, other soldiers, all armed with powerful energy rifles, made their way through the crowd and ordered Danny to surrender. Others aimed at me and told me to get on the ground. I ran over by Danny and gave the soldiers the finger.  
The crowd was going nuts! They had all gathered to see an execution, and they were seeing a rescue. They booed and screamed; some tossing rotten vegetables or small stones. The small number of Dead Boys were quickly losing control of the crowd; in another minute or two, they would have a full-scale riot on their hands. The cold, hungry citizens of Lone Star City were getting very pissed off.  
None of the Dead Boy soldiers could get a clear shot on me or Danny, with the preacher being in the way. The poor preacher; all he could do was mumble prayers to himself and occasionally yell 'Don't shoot me! Please let me go!' I followed Danny as he slowly moved away from the brick wall and through the angry mob.  
"Carter, when I count to three, you start running through the crowd as fast as you can. You see that movie theater over there?"  
I did. It was called 'Vintage 12'. I've seen a couple shows there; they mainly show pre-rifts stuff; some new films spliced from pre-rifts footage. Decent place, but I bet they don't get any business on a day like today. "Yeah, I see it.", I said.  
"Get around back of it. I got two hovercycles waiting for us."  
"Gotcha, partner."  
"Okay.....one......two....THREE!!!"  
I took off for the theatre as Danny opened fire on the Dead Boys from behind the preacher. I was still very weak physically, but my spirit was renewed from Danny's daring rescue. I suddenly felt like I could take on the world! The loud sounds of laser fire scared the crowd and most of them hit the dirt. The soldiers tensed up and some moved forward or dodged out of the way, but none would return fire for fear of hitting the preacher. I gotta hand it to those Dead Boys; they'll burn down a village of non-humans and shit in the face of magicians, but they won't shoot a priest. Can't decide if that's honorable or just stupid.  
While the Dead Boys were recovering from the confusion of Danny's attack, the Juicer threw the preacher aside and darter after me. We ran like our asses were on fire for the back of that theatre. The soldiers had too much to deal with already from the crowd to fully pursue us. I didn't look back, but I knew in seconds they'd have some real heavyweights after us....probably SAMAS troops.  
"Thanks a ton, Danny. You saved my ass back there. But what are you doing here? Where's Amy? How did you guys escape the work camp?"  
"Amy's meeting us outside town. And you'll have to ask me about how we escaped later, cuz we ain't outta this shit yet, Carter-man!"  
Danny and I hopped on the hovercycles and sped our way out through the city, heading for the border wall. In no time, Dead Boys were pursuing us, singeing the air around us with bolts of energy from their weapons. I looked behind me and saw three soldiers on CS Sky Cycles in hot pursuit.  
"Jesus Danny, can't these fucking things go any faster?!", I yelled.  
"Hey, if you don't like them, I can take 'em and just go home!", Danny yelled back. I laughed.  
I turned around just in time to see one of the soldiers fly up right next to me and grab for my controls. Doing so put him off- balance, just enough so I could grab him and flip him off his Sky Cycle. I did, and he flew back behind us, crashing through an adobe wall and into the dirt. His Sky Cycle followed in suit, first spinning out of control with no one to work the controls, then smashing into the second floor of an office building and finally exploding into flames from the impact.  
The other soldiers opened fire with their weapons. They missed me when I swerved to the side, but Danny's hovercycle was caught by their blasts. Sparks started flying from the internal motor, and a long trail of smoke started following Danny, spewing from the engine. Danny's hovercycle was rapidly losing speed, no matter how fast he punched the accelerator.  
The soldiers fired again at Danny, hoping to explode his hovercycle in mid-flight. Their shots hit him right on target. Danny, realizing that at this speed, over 200 miles an hour, if he hit the ground, it would break every bone in his body, even through his body armor. Danny jumped from his hovercycle seconds before it became a ball of fire to the Sky Cycle behind him, colliding in mid-air with the driver. The impact knocked the driver off-balance. They both held on to the Cycle as it started to weave erratically through the air.  
Danny's juicer system made him much stronger than the ordinary person. He was able to yank the Dead Boy from his grip on the Cycle, and watched as the poor guy collided with a liquor store. Danny climbed up on the Cycle and was easily able to bring it under control.  
  
There was still one more soldier behind me, and chances are he was radioing in for backup. He had a pistol, and desperately fired beside him at Danny. A couple shots burned scratches into his body armor, but little damage was done. Danny veered hard to the left and tried to slam his Cycle into the other guy's. Unfortunately, the soldier anticipated the maneuver and sped up, leaving Danny in his wake.  
As he sped up, the soldier rammed me with his vehicle. The Sky Cycle he rode was at least twice the bulk of the hovercycle I was on. The knock jarred me violently and nearly caused me to lose control. He was now almost on top of me, and brought out a vibro-saber with a 12- inch blade. I was unarmored and a cut from a blade like that (vibro- blades are used against armored troops and monsters, not your average guy, for Christ's sake) would have taken my head off. The soldier cut the air with it, viciously trying to slice me open. I was defenseless, and could do nothing but move out of the way of his blade.  
By this time, we were already over the border wall at the edge of Lone Star City and into a forest the residents used for lumber. Danny, lagging behind, got back into the race as quickly as he could. I could hear him, loudly yelling 'Yeeeee-haw!!!' as he rammed the guy attacking me at full speed. The sound of banging metal shook through my head, and both Danny and the soldier lost control of their vehicles. The soldier's Cycle started spinning over-and-under, and slammed into a group of trees, exploding violently. Danny also spun out of control, and flew back towards the city. Already, he was under fire from reinforcements. I was right about the SAMAS troops too, I could hear their rail guns going off. I heard more explosions too, and stopped my hovercycle.  
I stood there, looking back at the flashes of light and listening to the firefight. Danny was giving them a hell of a scrap, but it was no use. Danny was as good as dead.  
As if to agree with me, the sounds of gunfire slowly ceased. Hopeful for the best, I stood my ground for over an hour, waiting to see if maybe Danny had escaped. However, as the sun set on Lone Star City, so too, I knew, would it be falling on Danny's life.  
Danny's sacrifice saddened me, but stronger was the fear of being taken back to the City, maybe thrown back into prison. I couldn't go back there. I know it makes me a lily-livered yellow- bellied chicken-shit son of a bitch, but I ran. I revved the hovercycle back up and took off through the forest. I forgot all about meeting Amy because Danny never told me where she would be. After a while, I assumed the Coalition got her too. I drove off into the New Mexico desert, running blindly from Jackie and the soldiers I knew would be after me.  
I drove all night, and my morning, I was lost in the white sands of the desert. My hovercycle had taken on too much sand and broke down. I left it in the dirt and walked off, not knowing where I was going or where I should be going. I was starving, and I needed water badly. At night, I was more afraid of the vampires than Jackie or the CS. They were supposedly everywhere, but only through the grace of god did I get through the night unscathed.  
When the sun finally came up, the heat rose over the sands exponentially. Already weakened horribly, it wasn't long before I collapsed in the sand. Unlike in the prison, I did not wish to die out here. I tried to force myself to continue, but the heat was too much. I laid with my face staring up at the sky. I was too tired to do anything, even contemplate my own death.  
I heard a noise. It started out low, like the whisper of the passing wind, but it quickly rose, and I recognized it to be a mechanical hum. It was an engine from some vehicle. In my mind, the sound signaled the absolute end for me. I just knew it was Jackie. She had tracked me out here, and now she would execute me herself. No prison, no speeches, no torture, just a laser blast to the head and everything would go black.  
The noise steadily grew louder, and I could hear it right beside me. Suddenly, I felt a sensation on my face and chest. It wasn't a laser blast, it was a good feeling! It was the most wonderful feeling in the world! It was water!! Cold, cold water splashed on my face and it instantly rejuvenated me. I sat up, unbearably thirsty. I begged whoever was there to give me water to drink. A canteen was put to my lips, and I feverishly emptied it.  
Looking up to see who my savior was, I feared it was Jackie, here to torture me with cool water before she killed me, but it wasn't. It was Amy!  
"Amy.....is that really you?", I asked, my voice slurred from dehydration.  
"Yeah, it's me Mr. Melvin."  
"Melvin?......How did you know?"  
"Danny accidentally told me. He told me that was why you guys woke me up at Ft Rice. Because you saw the key around my neck and knew we were family."  
"Yeah....but I don't have the box anymore. They took it from me. The CS took all of my possessions."  
"I know. They took my key too. C'mon, Carter, it doesn't matter anymore. I'll get us someplace safe."  
Amy helped me into the back seat of the CS military jeep she was driving. Back there, she had more water, and some food. It was nothing special, just some stolen army rations, but to me then it tasted like the juiciest steak. It's funny how being near death puts things in perspective.  
"I heard you guys got put into a work camp.", I said.  
"Well, almost. We never got there. Right as they were loading us up, I played like I was going into some kind of fit. Danny lifted a gun off of one of the troops while they all stood there watching me writhe around on the floor. It was so funny; he jumped on top of me and pretended to take me hostage. Then some of the other prisoners disarmed the other soldiers and we tied them up. Then we stole this jeep and some other stuff and came to get you out."  
I laughed weakly. "Yeah, me and Danny have used that trick a couple of times. Them stupid dead boys almost always fall for it."  
After a minute or two of silence, I asked Amy how she found me out here in the middle of nowhere.  
"I followed your tracks.", she said proudly, "You're a remarkably easy man to find, Carter."  
At my suggestion, Amy drove us far up into the Rocky Mountains. Anyplace else would have been too dangerous. I needed some mountain air to clear my head and figure out what to do about Jackie. Amy agreed that she would only be back to kill me again, this time with even more firepower; so we had to come up with a plan. For now, however, we ran. We went where no one would see us, and no one would be able to turn us in to the States. It was, at the time, a good idea, but things don't always turn out how you'd like them to.  
  
Amy sat on the edge of a cliff, looking out over the mountains. She had never seen the Rockies, and assumed this was how they always looked. Believing that these were the same mountains that existed before what Carter called 'The Great Cataclysm' renewed a little hope in Amy.  
Nearby, Carter was attempting to light a fire. It got terribly cold up as high as they were, and they would need the warmth of the fire through the whole night. Having no luck with the sticks he frantically rubbed together, Carter swore to himself and rubbed his face therapeutically. He looked up at Amy and watched her move her eyes from the ground to the stars. Carter got up from his uncooperative fire pit and joined Amy.  
"What're you doing, Amy?", Carter asked.  
"I was just looking at the stars. I don't think I've ever seen such a brightly-lit night sky. Once you get away from the cities, it's quite a sight."  
"Yeah, I know what you mean. Never been much of a city boy myself. Looking up at the stars at night, and not being able to see hardly any of them.....it's always made me a bit uncomfortable."  
"You know what's strange, Carter?"  
"What?"  
"That sky; those stars, those are the same stars I saw in my day. It's the same sky. Even the space stations are still up there. I can see the light from two of them. Is anybody up there these days?"  
"Don't know. I don't know anything about those stations except that they exist. If anybody's up there, they ain't come down for a visit."  
"Why doesn't anybody try to go up there to the stations?"  
"Too dangerous, is what I'm told. Any ship that tries to leave orbit is never heard from again. Don't know why; I've heard all kinds of stories about killer robots and enough debris to tear a ship apart, but nobody really knows."  
"Carter, I really wish you could have seen the world in my time. It wasn't always such a good place, but you know what? There was a lot of beauty in my world, and I can see the same beauty in yours. I mean, look at the stars, look at the mountains, the forests, the rivers; it's all still here. There are still people in your world; people who laugh and love and play and live their lives; nothing has changed there. All the best things in life can't be taken away, not even by an act of God."  
"That's true, Amy, I never really thought about it that way. But you have to understand that for every good thing that survived the cataclysm, a hundred bad things came up out of it. There are things in this world now that you can't imagine. Horrors that make the 'bad things' in your world look like a fucking church picnic. Those same people that laugh and love, they also have to fight. They fight, and more often than not, they die. Lives are short in this world, Amy. Look at Danny, Irwin, and Alice. They were all a lot younger than me, and now they're all dead. It's just the way of the world now."  
"But things will get better, right, Carter?", Amy asked, naively hoping against the obvious truth that it probably won't.  
Carter sat in silence. He had never considered the possibility of 'things getting better'. To him, this life and this world were normal. Fighting monsters and the Coalition every day was the status quo. Unlike Amy, he was born into this insane world. The killing, the horrors, the despair; he was......used to it.  
"I don't know.", was all he could say.  
After a couple of minutes of silence, with only the wind below them making its ghostly noise, Amy finally spoke.  
"I'm sorry about your friends, Carter.", she said.  
"I am too.", Carter said, without sounding too choked up about it.  
"What, is that all? You don't sound as upset as I thought you would be."  
Carter sighed. "It happens. People die; just like I said."  
"No, Danny and Miguel and Carlos and Alice and Irwin were more than just 'people'; they were your friends! They were more of your family than I am! Me and you, we might have the same blood, you guys had the same history! They trusted you and they died for you!"  
The friendly conversation between Amy and Carter was quickly becoming a heated argument. Both side believed that their truth was the only truth, and could not understand why the other side would disagree. Coming from such opposite walks of life, neither Carter nor Amy could comprehend the other's point of view.  
"They were NOT my family; they were my team. They were mercenaries. Co-workers. They only stayed with me because I paid them to. But they're dead now, and I'm sorry they're dead, but the world does not stop for them just because they died; MY world does not stop for them!"  
"You don't have to stop for them, but you could at least pause for a second! You could at least take a moment to mourn them! Danny died saving your fucking life, Carter, and I would have died too if he hadn't kept me away. He knew it was dangerous; he knew neither one of you might come back, but he went anyway! He fucking gave up his life so you could sit there and not care!"  
"What the fuck do you want me to say, Amy? Danny's dead, and I'm sorry, but it's not my fucking fault! I didn't force him to rescue me; I didn't force any of them to do anything. I am not the badguy here. Jackie is the fucking badguy. The whole goddamn Coalition is the badguy! People die like this every day, Amy. That's just the way it is. Who's to say I won't die tomorrow? Or the day after? Or ten years from now? Or a hundred years from now?"  
Suddenly, a voice belonging to a person neither Carter nor Amy had noticed before spoke up. It was surly and mean. It spewed hate with each word.  
"I really doubt you'll live that long, Carter.", Jackie sneered, "In fact, the odds are pretty damn good that you won't see the rising sun."  
Carter and Amy turned to Jackie. She was in horrible shape. She was still wearing her army-issued body armor, with no helmet. The armor was scratched, dirty, and dented in places. Jackie held out a pistol in front of her, pointed at Carter. Jackie's face was barely visible underneath her filthy matted hair, which hung down in front of her face in golden blonde ropes. Her face was like her armor, dirty and bruised. Her eyes, pure white orbs which gleamed with hate through dark gray sockets. Her lips were pulled back from her teeth in an involuntary sneer. Her teeth seemed to beg to rip into Carter's flesh. Her breathing was heavy, moving the breastplate of her armor up and down with each breath she took in.  
"Jackie.....,", Carter gasped, "How did you find us? What the hell happened to you?"  
"YOU happened to me, Carter!", Jackie growled, "You ruined my life when you made me love you. Why won't you just die?! End my suffering!" Jackie shook her gun angrily at Carter with each word she spoke.  
"Jackie, calm down...", Carter said softly, his eyes moving from Jackie's face to the gun she threatened him with.  
"Calm down?? CALM DOWN?!!!", Jackie screamed, "Don't you patronize me, you motherfucker!! You don't give a shit about me!!"  
"Jackie, no, that's not true....."  
"Liar!! As long as you had a steady supply of whore and desert trash to fuck, you never gave a damn about me!! You promised me, Carter! You promised me we would be together forever!"  
"Jackie, please give me the gun. You still love me, right? You don't want to kill me."  
"Oh, yes I do, Carter.", Jackie choked out, her face becoming hot and her eyes wet with tears, "I want to kill you because you caused me so much pain. I worked so hard for this chance, and now it's finally here."  
Jackie aimed her pistol at Carter. Her finger started to depress the trigger, when a sudden blow to Jackie's skull knocked her down. Her gun flew from her fingertips and landed at Carter's feet.  
Jackie rolled over on the ground. Through her blurred vision, she could see a young girl standing over her with a wooden 2x4 in her hand. Jackie managed to shake the cobwebs out of her head and get to her knees.  
"Uh-Uh, bitch.", said Amy, raising the 2x4 over her head, "Stay down!"  
"Amy don't!", Carter said.  
"Amy.....", Jackie said, rolling the word over her tongue. Jackie smiled evilly. "I know your little secret, Amy."  
Amy lowered the 2x4 slowly, stunned. "What? How did you know?"  
"I found the underground laboratory.....I found all the volunteers for the project. But don't worry, nobody else knows...yet. The greatest find of the modern age. Live people from before the rifts! It will make me famous all over the civilized world." Jackie's smile disappeared, and was replaced by a sad frown. "That is....it would have."  
"What do you mean 'would have'?", Amy asked.  
"I buried the place.", Jackie hissed, "I set explosives all over Ft Rice, and caved it in!" Her evil smile returned to her face. Jackie seemed genuinely amused at her deed. "All except the room with the sleepers. I haven't decided if I should kill them or not, so I didn't destroy them yet."  
"Get on your feet, Jackie.", Carter ordered. He had her own pistol aimed at her battered head.  
"You have my gun....", Jackie said, more a statement to herself than Carter, "What are you going to do now, Carter? Are you going to kill me?"  
"I don't want to, Jackie. I probably should, but I can't. I still love you, Jackie, and that's the only reason you're alive right now."  
"You love me? Still?", Jackie said, uncharacteristically emotional and heartfelt.  
"Yes. It doesn't matter to me that you've become who you are, or even that you tried to kill me, I love you because you're right here. I look at you and I still see the girl I fell in love with ten years ago in that recruitment office."  
"Oh god, Carter...", Jackie sobbed, "I've done so many horrible things to get to you....all I wanted was power. I believed the more power I acquired, the easier I could get to you....so we could be together. But then I saw you with that girl in El Paso and I realized that you were no longer a part of me. And without you, I didn't know who I was. I only saw myself when you looked at me with those loving eyes of yours.....I worked so hard to get rid of you. I needed to purge you from my mind, and to do that I had to kill you." Jackie fell to her knees and cried in her hands. She felt so lost. It was as if a different, evil Jackie had led her to this moment in her life, and this left her, with no idea what to do or feel next. There was only one emotion left inside her, and that was guilt.  
"I hurt so many people, Carter.", She cried, "I destroyed lives! I slaughtered whole villages, just like the one that you refused to burn....and then they took you away from me! The Coalition took you away from me! You were right all along, Carter! I killed for them; the very people who took away the one thing in the world I truly treasured."  
Carter knelt down beside Jackie and put his hand lovingly on her shoulder. He laid the gun down on the ground and moved forward to embrace Jackie, to comfort her, but Jackie was too fast for him.  
Quicker than a wink, Jackie pushed Carter down and took the pistol from him. She dashed to the edge of the cliff and stood, facing Carter. The pistol she held tightly at her side.  
Amy raised her wood defensively. Carter suddenly got a really bad feeling about where Jackie was standing, and started moving toward her.  
"Stay back!", Jackie shouted, once again aiming the pistol at Carter.  
"What are you doing, Jackie? Come over here to me, please."  
"I can't, Carter. It's been too long. I spent ten years looking for you, only so I could kill you. I cannot be redeemed anymore. The pain I feel, the loss and the confusion; is nothing compared to the pain I've caused. I can't be saved by you, Carter. Nothing can save me now."  
"Jackie, please give me the gun."  
"I have nothing now. I can't go back to the States. I can't cause any more pain."  
"Jackie..."  
Jackie put the barrel of the pistol between her teeth, closed her eyes, and pulled the trigger. In an instant, the back of Jackie's head was blown outward. A shower of blood and bits of skull filled the night sky behind her. Jackie's head fell back, no longer supported by her spine, and the smoking pistol fell from her mouth.  
As the last breath escaped from her body and the last bit of activity from her damaged brain ceased, Jackie's body went limp, and she fell back, over the side of the cliff. Screaming, Carter dove for her body, trying desperately to find a part of her to hold on to. He watched, helplessly, as her body fell into the darkness below.  
Carter stayed there for what seemed like hours, one arm over the cliff, pleading with Jackie not to leave, his eyes staring off into the pit that had become her grave. "......JackieohgodnopleasedontdieJackiepleaseimsosorry....", Carter whispered to himself over and over. He sat up at started weeping. Not since he was 18 and the vampires took away his family had he cried so hard.  
Amy, unable to think of any words or actions that, in any realm of possibility, could make things better for Carter, simply stood and watched Carter. What she had seen solidified her belief that the more things changed, the more they really stayed the same. In this dangerous new world, so different from her own, Amy had seen the truest definition of what makes us human. She had seen the struggle of two people who, although they loved each other, were torn apart by conflicting lives and severe mental illness. As the drama between Carter and Jackie was played out, Amy no longer felt like she was in a post-apocalyptic nightmare. Amy was no longer scared of the world. She knew that no matter what she faced now, she could handle it.  
Carter stood from the edge of the cliff. He and Amy got back into the jeep and drove off down the dusty mountain trail.  
  
In the morning, they were back in the desert, heading south across the lands they used to call New Mexico. Carter had driven all night. He knew they were not safe. Although Jackie was dead, he was still a highly wanted criminal. If she could find him up in the Rocky Mountains, then so could others. Carter knew that before her death, Jackie would have ordered whole squads of Coalition Soldiers to seek out and destroy him. With no money and no weapons, Carter would need help.  
They were traveling to a city on the Rio Grande called El Paso. There, Carter hoped to enlist the aid of a girl named Monica; an old friend of his. With his team dead and the Dead Boys on his heels, Carter had nowhere else to turn.  
As for the sleepers, Carter and Amy came to the decision to leave them alone. They were going to have to fight hard enough just to save themselves, without having to worry about a thousand other people. Carter promised Amy that one day, when their resources were higher and their anonymity a bit more preserved, they would return to Ft Rice and release the others.  
For now, however, they will just have to sleep as they have done for centuries, and may do for centuries more.  
  
END 


End file.
